The Son of an Outlaw
by conundrum18
Summary: The story of Aidan- the son of Robin and Marian. Action, adventure, romance, matched with an overconfident attitude...what could you expect? He's the son of Robin Hood!
1. Chapter 1

Aidan took a deep, cleansing breath. He narrowed his eyes, swiftly calculating his chances. Donning a confident smile, Aidan crouched lower in the dead grass surrounding him.

"There is no way you're going to pull this off", the whining voice came quietly in his ear.

Aidan chose to ignore this comment, stringing his bow and focusing hard on the task at hand. He saw the four guards on the horses, one of them with a huge bag of gold pieces in hand. Three of the guards were pausing in front of a creek, getting water, while the one with the money was getting back on his horse. A crowd of townspeople, murmuring quietly, were collecting water from the creek. They glanced up briefly at the guards, and looked back at the ground tersely. The townspeople hated the Nottingham guards. Aidan counted slowly down from five, and then, hand quite steady, he let the arrow go with a twang.

As if in slow motion, the arrow flew close enough to the ear of the horse to make it whinny and flail up backwards. The armed soldier atop the horse dropped the money, and Aidan seized his moment. Sending another arrow point backwards, he hit the spooked horses' flank with the dull edge, and it began spinning away from the point. The horse took off in the opposite direction, leaving the soldier clinging on for dear life. The other soldiers searched intently for the shooter. Aidan grinned as anxious townspeople gathered around the full bag of coins, splitting it quickly and then running back with their winnings before the other guards could stop them. The guards helplessly spun around as the townspeople ran off, and then one of them locked eyes with Aidan.

"Now you've done it", James grumbled, sliding backwards from the spot where they lay, behind patches of brush. He got up, and pulled Aidan with him. "They won't hold back, Aidan! If they see you, they'll shoot you!" James hissed agitatedly. Aidan grinned. As if he didn't know that. He merely laughed as the boys returned to the well worn down path of horse prints and ran for it. He loved the thrill of adventure, the knowledge that he could help the poor and have a damn good time doing it.

He was too much like his father, according to his mother. Aidan knew he was the spitting image of the outlaw, but he liked to think he had a different personality. Although Aidan was quite proud to be the son of Robin Hood, he needed to create his own identity. Besides that, he could hardly see how he acted so much like a man he had only met four years before. Aidan's mother and father had been teenagers when Marian got pregnant with him. He didn't know a lot about their history, but he knew that he was kept a secret, and that his father had gone to war. It was only when he returned that Aidan met the man, and then went to live with him.

Aidan turned, and was actually a little surprised when two of the soldiers were close on their trail. They had really gotten their act together since the last time he had challenged them. He realized that it would be a little difficult to get away from men on horseback, so he figured it was time to leave the path. He waited for a good moment, and then shoved James sideways off the path. They both tumbled down the hill going off the path, but by the time they reached the bottom they were well hidden among the bushes and trees. Aidan laughed again, getting up and brushing himself off.

"Aidan, you could have gotten yourself hurt. Or me hurt, for that matter." James muttered, pulling grass out of his hair. "When your father hears that you had soldiers after you for doing something this stupid…"

"Well, lets just hope he doesn't find out, okay?" Aidan smiled, but frowned as he realized his bow wasn't on his back. He turned frantically, and with a falling heart, saw the bow, broken, halfway down the hill. It had been his favorite, the one his father built specially for him. With a heavy sigh, he picked up the bow and showed James the damage.

"Oh yes…I'm sure Robin wont find out now," James said sarcastically. Aidan scowled.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, thanks for the reviews. ******** I know the story of Aidan's past is kinda confusing, I promise it will all be explained in time. I'm kind of following the BBC story line…ish. And also, Allan did betray the gang but he is back with them now. It will all be explained.**

Figuring that the damage was done, Aidan sighed and began to walk towards home, James hurrying to keep up with him. The walk back was a familiar one. The whole forest was familiar, in fact. Aidan knew every tree he passed, every bush. He knew which berries were edible and which weren't, from personal experience. He had grown up between these trees, and knew the forest like he knew himself.

Aidan had spent the first years of his life kept quiet, and had eventually been taken to live in the forest with Marian's best friend, Lizbeth. Marian was the daughter of the sheriff at the time, and it was unheard of for someone in Marian's position to have an illegitimate child out of wedlock. Robin, who knew nothing of the child, had gone to war and Aidan had gone to the forest, where he saw his mother quite frequently. Lizbeth was a good woman, raising him with his mother's intentions in mind. Lizbeth had a son a year younger than him, James. Aidan and James became like brothers in their time living together. However, eventually Robin had returned, and his life was turned upside down. It was a long story, one that he only remembered parts of, as he had been a child when it occurred.

In the last few years, Aidan had learned the ways of outlaws from his father, and the others in their gang. However, he knew from countless lectures that he was not allowed to begin going on his own ventures until he was "ready for the responsibility", which in his parent's eyes was at sixteen. When Marian brought Aidan to live with Robin, she had been very clear on how she wanted him to grow up. Marian understood that the son of Robin Hood could not be expected to be raised…well, "properly". She knew he would learn to steal soon enough, cause trouble and put himself in danger. As much as she wished that day would never come, she knew it would. So instead of trying to prevent it, she stalled it. She and Robin decided that Aidan would not begin to his career until he turned sixteen. Aidan had just turned fifteen, and waiting an entire year just to go through the procedures of shooting an arrow at a real target instead of at trees seemed an awful waste of time. Aidan knew how to shoot; he grew up being fascinated with archery and seemed to have a natural talent for it. He rarely missed. Aidan was fast and strong, and he had a quick mind, which was good in moments of trouble. When he went to live with the gang, he picked up the skills of mapping out plans, of foreseeing complications. He could lie through his teeth and make people believe him. Well, some people. Not his father. In any case, Aidan was getting restless.

Aidan and James had walked in silence thus far, and finally Aidan turned to his friend. "Do you want me to come home with you? I want to explain what happened to your mother…" Aidan said anxiously. He hated getting his friend in trouble, and making his mother worry. James and his younger sister Clara were all she had. The sheriff's men had killed her husband years ago for disturbing the peace, as the sheriff said. He was a firm believer in justice, and so he repeatedly spoke out about the injustices their town suffered. He had taken it too far, and he was killed for it. Lizbeth had then taken her children and set up a home hidden in the forest. It was only a few miles from where Robin Hood's camp would eventually stand. Aidan knew that the only reason he was not discovered was because of Lizbeth's protectiveness and watchful eye. He hated to make her worry. She would no doubt have heard from the gossiping townspeople that two young men had challenged the sheriff's guards yet again. But James shook his head and smiled.

"She'll assume it was just another member of the gang. Don't worry about it. Its you that's going to be in trouble." Aidan sighed, in complete agreement.

Now alone, he dragged his feet, not anxious to get home. However, it was getting dark, and if he got home after Robin he would be in even more trouble, so he took the shortest path he could back to camp. When he arrived, there was a fire blazing, but Much alone was tending the fire. Aidan looked around as he came in.

"What…is that?" he asked, sniffing the cooking animal on the fire.

"For the last time, its not squir…" Much paused. "Where have you been?" he asked suspiciously. Aidan didn't look up, but sat down and cast around for an answer.

"Practicing archery. I tripped and broke my bow, though," he held up the bow tentatively, and Much examined it. Aidan sighed, hating that he was lying to Much. Much was one of the only ones in the gang who would try to help him out of situations instead of lecturing him. Much seemed to sense that wasn't the truth.

"No….no. You've got that face on." He said, furrowing his brow and shaking his finger at Aidan's face. Aidan raised an eyebrow.

"That face?"

"You know what I mean. That guilt face. Like you're hiding something. You might be able to lie to Alan and Will, but you can't lie to me. What's going on?"

Aidan knew he had to tell him, so he explained what he had done. Much listened without passing judgment, as he always did. When he was finished, Much nodded and handed him some "chicken". Aidan smiled gratefully, and was just about to eat when he heard noises at the edge of camp, and then, "AIDAN EDWARD HOOD."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! Once again, thanks to you guys who reviewed. Makes me happy! **

Aidan pursed his lips and rose instinctively. The full name trick was one that was rarely pulled on him. Upon occasion the first and last name were used together, but once the middle name was thrown in there, it meant trouble. He turned on his heel to face a very upset Robin. The rest of the gang trooped back, gathering around the fire and pretending to ignore the father son conflict in front of them. Robin and Aidan got along for the most part, but lately Aidan had been restless, and when the Hood men get restless, the outcome is often less than satisfactory.

Allan came up and clapped him on the shoulder, grinning.

"Good luck with that, mate." He said cheerily, glancing back at Robin and raising his eyebrow. Aidan scowled at him. Robin motioned out of camp and then turned and walked out, Aidan following behind him slowly. He figured out that he could tell how upset his father was by watching how he walked. When he was particularly agitated, he took larger steps, and he seemed tensed up. Today his steps were more like small leaps.

Finally Robin turned and glared at his son. "Well?"

Aidan frowned. This was not normal. Normally, Robin would yell first, ask questions later. He almost never got the chance to explain himself. He cleared his throat. "Well…I take it you heard what happened." Robin threw him a fierce stare. "Right…well it was completely safe. I mean I checked it out, and we got away easily enou-"

"It was NOT completely safe! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you, Aidan?!" Aidan took a step back as Robin lit into him. So much for giving him a chance.

"For one thing, you know damn well your not allowed outside of the forest without permission, especially not in such a public place. And to pull a stunt like that…are you out of your mind? How many times have I told you, Aidan? How many times?"

Aidan guessed rather wisely this was a rhetorical question, so he stayed quiet and listened.

"You had no idea what you were doing! You ran off on a main trail! And what's more, a soldier saw you. The sheriff has now been informed that you are a problem, and it's only a matter of time before there's a price on your head!" Aidan countered that the sheriff had never actually caught him before, so he didn't know who or where he was. And besides which, it didn't much matter how big his record became, as he was an outlaw anyway. Robin told him sharply that he didn't get to have a record yet, that he could clearly not handle the pressures of the job.

"You didn't set it up right, Aidan. In an operation like that, you need at least three men. Two to protect the shooter, to cover your tracks, so that soldiers don't have the opportunity to follow you! If you hadn't gotten off that trail, you would have been met with three more soldiers in the opposite direction, I guarantee it! You would have been taken!"

"Well then, it's a good thing I got off the trail!"

"This time, yes! What about next time?! You need to learn caution!" Robin sighed, shaking his head at his son. "I am sick of having this argument with you. You aren't ready yet. You prove that to me every time you go out there."

"Right, because it was really YOUR idea that I wait until I'm sixteen," Aidan said bitterly. Robin turned furiously.

"I support her decision with you one hundred percent. You aren't ready. And I won't have you out there risking your neck without the proper grounds to, or without the good sense to use your head and plan out your attacks!"

Aidan crossed his arms, waiting for the blow to fall. Robin put his hands on the back of his head in frustration. When he spoke again, his voice was calm and measured.

"All right. You've heard all this before. And since I clearly can't keep a close enough watch on you in the forest, you're confined to the camp."

Aidan scoffed. "Are you kidding me?! I can't breathe in the forest alone, now your making me stay in the camp?!"

Robin nodded. His son was way too much like him, and so he knew from experience that the only type of discipline that really got through to him was restriction of freedom. He realized his son needed to be knocked down a peg, and he knew the only way to successfully do this was to take away the one thing he couldn't live without: his freedom.

Aidan didn't say another word; he stalked back to camp and flung himself down before the fire. Aidan actually loved being in the forest, most days. It brought upon a miraculous feeling of freedom. He could do anything he wanted; the forest was his territory. The only thing that could possibly dim this bright, enthralling world was the knowledge that he couldn't leave. He knew the deal- he didn't leave the forest unless it was with another gang member, until he became an official member of the group. This didn't bother him at first; the forest was huge, and any of the gang members would happily go with him into town. However, at this point in his young life, all he wanted was unrestricted freedom. He hated the fact that there were places he couldn't go. He was basically an adult, he could handle going into town unchaperoned! He knew, deep down, that it was probably for the best that he had to be supervised because if the guards caught him, there was no telling what might happen. But his recklessness was getting the better of him. He thought furiously about how little freedom he had now.

"Beautiful evening, is'n it?," Allan remarked, grinning. Aidan could have killed him.


	4. Chapter 4

Aidan stepped out into the sunny camp from the shelter, and was struck by the fact that he was alone. He rubbed his eyes and blinked, trying to adjust to the light, which seemed to be getting brighter every day. A serene silence fell over the camp, and Aidan frowned, wondering just how early he had woken up. But the other members of the gang were awake and gone; the fire was still smoking from breakfast. Aidan sighed, and tried to decide what to do. He was alone, which meant that technically he could leave the camp without anyone knowing. Once the gang went out in the morning, they were usually gone all day, and returned late in the evening. Unless. Unless there was a complication, and they needed to gather back at the camp to make a plan, or they needed different weapons, or they needed to drop off supplies or money. Leaving would be risky, but only if certain gang members returned. For instance, if Will or Allan came back and found Aidan missing, they wouldn't say a word to Robin. They were like his older brothers- especially Allan. But if Little John or Djaq or, God forbid, Robin came into camp…

It had been a week and four days, and Aidan was quite proud of himself for staying in the camp. He hadn't even attempted to sneak out yet, which was pretty good for him. He had managed to fix his broken bow without Robin finding out he broke it, and he found rabbits or chicken to make for the gang each night. But Aidan was getting restless again.

He had finally decided to take a walk in the forest- not leaving the forest, but just getting out of the camp, and was just moving towards the trail when Robin came walking towards him from the opposite direction.

"Going somewhere?" he asked dryly. Aidan cursed inwardly.

"I was going to get water…" Aidan said quickly, hating the fact that he was such an abysmal liar when it came to Robin. Anyone else, and he would have thought of something better.

"Without any buckets?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow. Aidan bit his lip, and Robin nodded, turning him around and steering him back into camp. He was going to check the traps he had set earlier. Of course. Why couldn't he have thought of this thirty seconds ago, Aidan thought in irritation.

"Sit down." Robin said, going into the shelter momentarily. He emerged shouldering his bow, and then stopped in front of his son. He put up one foot on a rock in front of him, and stared Aidan for a minute.

"Where are you going?" Aidan asked, looking up at his father through the almost blinding sunlight.

Robin adjusted his bow on his back and sighed. "We're planning another ambush. Supposed to be a shipment of silver pieces coming through here at midday. I'm just hoping it's not too well guarded."

Aidan nodded, wishing he could go along and help. Robin seemed to notice this, and he stared at his son again. "Tell you what. You stay in camp for the next three days, without sneaking off, and you're off restriction. Sound good?" Aidan nodded fervently, and Robin smiled.

"Allright, get out of here." He said, nodding over his shoulder.

"Where am I going?" Aidan asked, confused.

Robin cocked his head to the side. "You were getting water, remember?" He grinned knowingly at Aidan. Aidan bit his tongue, getting up to get the buckets.

Robin left the camp, and Aidan watched after him. He lugged the buckets of sloshing water back and forth three times, and then went down a fourth time when heard noises from far off in the forest. Dropping the buckets, he ran quickly and quietly farther away from camp. He stopped at the ridge of a hill, crouching down so he wouldn't be seen. A man was in back of a cart pulled by three horses- well make that two- one horse had gotten loose, and was bolting ahead of the cart, the man screaming after it. The other horses were getting riled up from the man's yelling, and were bucking and snorting wildly. Aidan decided to take matters into his own hands, and ran off along the ridge of the hill, trying to catch up to the escapee. After running quite a stretch, Aidan found himself directly above the horse. He decided to take his chances and leapt off the bank of the hill, landing almost perfectly astride the horse. He then took measures to calm the blasted thing down, and after a painfully long time, it slowed to a trot. Gently rubbing the horse's neck, Aidan cautiously turned it back around, and found the owner a ways back. Aidan realized that the horse had veered way off the trail, and that they were on the East side of the forest, very close to the edge. Aidan was almost never on the edge of the forest, especially not on the East side. The center was his specialty. Aidan slid off the horse as they reached the man in the cart, who looked flustered and quite relieved to have his animal back.

"Thank you so much, young man. I swear, that has never happened to me before. I don't know what spooked the horse so!" He held the broken reins in his hand, furrowing his brow.

Aidan smiled, a little winded. "Not a problem, sir."

The man stuck out his hand and Aidan shook it, a little disconcertedly, as he was anxious to get back to camp. The man forced him to take some money for going to such trouble, although he didn't exactly need to twist his arm to accept. He soon parted ways with Aidan, and he was left alone again, in an unfamiliar clearing. He noticed that only a few trees separated himself from the village outside the woods, which was new for him. Unless he was aiming to get out of the forest, he found he liked it better in the center of the woods; he felt almost protected by the expanse of trees in every direction. As much as he liked the adventure of being out of the forest, he liked familiarity. Seeing smoke from fires outside the forest made him fidgety, so he turned and began to walk away from the edge when he heard voices. They weren't the voices of adults, however, and his interest was instantly sparked.

He climbed another bank and came face to face with a young man of about his age. Before he could calculate what was going on, Aidan found himself meeting the ground, with the young man pinned on top of him.

"Oi! Just where did you come from? How did you find us? This is our side of the woods, we've told you that," The boy growled menacingly.

Aidan tried to speak, but his head was being pressed into the ground. And then a new voice joined the boys, louder…but gentler.

"Would you relax, Caleb? Does he look like an outlaw? Why, he's barely older than I am!"

It was a girl, he saw, as the pressure on his back was lifted and he was able to sit up. It was a beautiful girl. She had flowing, dark brown hair and crystal blue eyes, as well as slender hips and a slight, though powerful, form. Noticing his gaze, the girl crossed her arms and smiled slightly, though only out of one corner of her mouth, in an almost taunting manner.

"What? Never had a girl come to your rescue before?"


	5. Chapter 5

Aidan got up slowly, brushing off his clothes and turning anxiously to the stony faced boy behind him. He was standing with his arms folded, still glaring at Aidan. After a tense moment, Aidan glanced back to the girl, and motioned to Caleb.

"He's not going to attack me again, right?"

"That depends on who you are, and what you are doing here." Caleb's voice cut smoothly through the air. His icy gaze still hadn't left Aidan. But the girl stepped in between the boys, and put her hands on her hips in frustration.

"Caleb, stop. He probably lives in the village and got lost. Is that about right?"

Aidan sensed this was the right answer, but he didn't want to trap himself with a lie, so he paused. The girl turned and gave him a look. Her eyes flashed, and Aidan saw the message she was getting across.

"Yes. I mean, I live about two miles outside of the village. I was looking for a good branch to use to build a bow, and I guess I just wandered too far from the trail," Aidan said sheepishly.

The girl gave him the slightest nod, and then turned to the boy again. "There you have it. Why are you always so suspicious? Not everyone that comes through here is out to wreak havoc."

"No. But he looks like one of Robin Hood's men, I tell you."

"Just an unfortunate coincidence," Aidan said, smiling casually and flipping his hair out of his eyes. Lying came easily to him when he was sure he couldn't get caught. He stood more at ease and then cleared his throat. "But may I ask you why you dislike Robin Hood so much?"

Caleb scowled. "Well you should know if you live anywhere near here. Hood steals from the sheriff, the sheriff is angered, and he sends more soldiers to patrol our streets. As if Hood's gang is anywhere near here! Those soldiers consider it business as usual to take what they want from us. We have to work day in and day out just to get enough food on the table for our family, but Hood doesn't even notice us. The soldiers have taken everything we own because of their gang, but does Hood come to our rescue? Never! I'm sure they feast like kings in his gang." He ended bitterly.

Aidan hesitated, taken aback by this speech. He had never met someone so vehemently against his father, other than the sheriff and Gisbourne, of course. He had to bite his tongue not to inform Caleb that they ate squirrel in the camp, and that if Robin knew anything of their troubles he would make it a point to fix their situation. Instead he nodded tersely.

"Oh yes. I see what you mean. I live on my own- my parents died a ways back, and since I never have to provide for anyone except myself, I guess I just don't notice the same things." He smiled confidently, hoping that Caleb would buy it. He shrugged, but he seemed more inviting towards Aidan after that. Finally Aidan noticed that the sun was setting, and he bit his lip. He needed to get home. The girl, whose name he had yet to learn, seemed to sense this, because she said something to Caleb quietly and then turned on her heel and walked off.

"You coming?" she asked, her brilliant blue eyes taunting him again. He frowned.

"Depends. Where are we going?"

"I'm going to lead you back to the trail," she said smiling. He nodded, relieved, and bade Caleb farewell. Caleb watched the two of them disappear, and then walked back towards the village.

The girl waited until they were out of earshot from Caleb. "You're his son, aren't you?" She asked, smiling expectantly. Aidan felt his heart begin to beat faster. He hated being trapped in a lie. But what could she possibly know? He scoffed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Robin Hood. You're his son, right?" Her eyes became wider, as if anticipating his answer.

Aidan tried not to stare at her, and shook his head. "Didn't you hear me? My mum and dad died…I live alone." She nodded knowingly.

"Sure. Caleb hasn't seen him, you know. But I have."

"Seen who?!"

"Robin Hood!," she said impatiently. "I've seen him twice. And you look just like him. You must be his son. Or his brother? I didn't know Hood had a brother. Then again, I didn't know he had a son either!"

Aidan shook his head fervently. "Hood doesn't have a son. Or a brother, to the best of my knowledge. The fact that I look like him is just coincidence." The girl narrowed her eyes and frowned at him. She looked particularly cute this way, he couldn't help but notice.

"Oh come on. I can see the resemblance. Don't try to lie to me; I'm a good judge of character and I can always tell when someone is lying." Aidan had to try very hard to convince himself that she could not tell, but something about the way she was looking at him made him uncomfortable lying. He knew he would have to do better to convince her.

"Allright…okay well my mum told me years ago that we were of some relation to him. I think he's my…grandfather's sister's nephew…or something like that." He averted his eyes at this point, hoping that she wouldn't read too much into this statement. "Besides. Why didn't you say this in front of Caleb if you really think that? He hates Robin Hood. You could have held me captive, if you thought I was part of the gang."

The girl smiled. "Exactly. I couldn't let that happen." She stopped, and Aidan, lost in watching her, didn't realize for a moment that they had reached the trail.

"Oh…thank you," he said abruptly.

"You're welcome," she smiled.

"Wait. I didn't catch your name…" he turned back to her.

"Its Josalyn."

"Well Josalyn, I hope I see you again…and Caleb. Speaking of which…Caleb. Is he your…well is he family? Or is he a friend?" He spoke quickly and stumbled over his words, hoping that he was her brother.

She grinned. "Neither." As she walked away she called back, "he's my grandfather's sister's nephew. Or something like that." Aidan grinned. He watched her retreat until she disappeared over a ridge, then turned and sighed happily. He made his way back through the forest, oblivious to the sounds of loud voices until he was almost at the camp. It was then that he recognized the yelling. The voice was unmistakably Marian's.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey- sorry for the long time between posts. I had a lot of work to do. Thanks again to those of you who have reviewed. **

The gang got back to camp after a long day, and they were all ready to relax. Allan stretched and yawned. "I wonder if Aidan's caught a chicken. I hope so. I mean, it's just such a nice change from the usual squi-"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I DON'T COOK SQUIRREL!" Much exclaimed, exasperated.

Allan put his hands over his head in mock surrender, and grinned back at the others. Robin and Little John laughed, but Will and Djaq had fallen behind. They were walking side by side, talking quietly and smiling as they always did when they were with each other. Much frowned. There was far too much coupling going on, as far as he was concerned. They reached an unusually dark camp.

"What, did Aidan forget to light a fire?" Much asked, furrowing his brow and trying to figure out this dilemma. Robin dropped his bow and walked quickly to their hidden shelter. Once he had called inside for his son, and thoroughly checked the camp, he threw his hands up above his head.

"Unbelievable! I give him a chance, I tell him he's got three more days, THREE days, and he can't make it! Where is he?!"

And right at that moment, a quiet sound caught the attention of the gang members. They all heard the whistle, and they all pretended they hadn't heard it at first. But the whistle grew louder, and soon it was impossible not to call to attention.

"Erm…Robin?" Little John started. "I think that's…"

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Robin said with a sigh. He seemed defeated. They all knew the whistle belonged to his beloved Marian, but they also knew that Marian was sure to be less than thrilled with her son's behavior over the last weeks. And when there was a problem with Aidan, there was a problem with Robin. Robin was usually thrilled when Marian visited, and he was immediately put in a better mood when the quiet whistle carried through the trees. However, today his shoulders slumped, and he slowly made his way down to their meeting spot.

Marian was waiting next to her horse; her arms folded across her chest, wearing a scowl that matched her tight, stiff appearance. As Robin came down the hill, she looked past him for a moment.

"Well?" She asked immediately. "Where is he?"

Robin put his hands up as if to steady her. "Marian, calm down. Please?" Marian reluctantly dropped her hands to her side and took a deep breath. Robin smiled.

"Better. Now, for a proper greeting." He leaned in and kissed her sweetly, and then broke away, watching for the smile that usually spread across her face when he kissed her. No such luck. Marian didn't pull away from him, but she did not seem happy to see him.

"Robin, I swear. One of these days he's going to be captured! And where is he?!"

Robin groaned. "Right to business, then? I thought we could discuss lighter matters," he jested, trying to steer her thoughts away from where their son was. This matter was worrying him, but telling Marian that he had no idea where Aidan was would not be the best decision. Marian's eyes flashed.

"This is serious! I heard the sheriff and Gisbourne discussing putting a price on his head!" Robin half-shrugged at this. "What? What was that? You don't think that is a problem? Are you concerned for his safety at all?!" Robin laughed.

"Give me a chance to defend myself, will you?" Marian folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows expectantly. Robin cleared his throat.

"I never said I wasn't concerned. I am concerned. He doesn't think about his actions, and he makes rash decisions. He's over confident…but for one thing, the sheriff has never caught him. He doesn't know what he looks like." At this point, Robin realized he was mirroring his son's argument against him, but he looked past that irritation to his main point. "And by the way…I don't think keeping him in camp is a long-term solution. I honestly think I need to start training him."

"Training him for what?"

"Marian, please. He needs to learn how to be an outlaw. I need to teach him strategy." He shrugged again, and glanced at her quickly. His next words came out in a rush. "I know you want me to wait until he's sixteen…but if I don't start knocking some sense into him, I'm afraid this won't be the last stupid decision he makes. I think he needs to become acquainted with Nottingham." Marian clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"What? You don't think that's a good idea?"

"I think that giving him exactly what he wants is going to encourage his attitude problem."

"Attitude problem?"

"What, you don't recognize this behavior? This 'I can do anything I want, nothing can hurt me' attitude that he's become so fond of? Now where would he get an attitude like that from?" Marian asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't know what you're getting at…," Robin replied stubbornly.

"Oh, yes you do. This was the same attitude you had before you went off to war. The same one you carry every time you put yourself in danger. Don't you see it, Robin?!"

"No. It isn't the same."

"It IS the same. And I wont lose him like I lost you."

"You didn't lose me. I'm right here. I'm fine." He gently brushed her hair out of her face with one hand, stepping closer to her, but she took a step back, still upset.

"Yes, but what if you weren't? Robin, what would I have done if you-"

The couple was interrupted by a branch snapping behind them. They whirled around, and Aidan stepped out with buckets of water.

"Hi, mother. I was just…getting water." He glanced at his father, whose expression was a mixture of relief, anger, and guilt. He didn't get the guilt, but in a flash all that remained was his mother's face in front of him. She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Then she broke away and grabbed his shoulders.

"Aidan! What were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how concerned I was?!" Aidan frowned.

"I was just getting water…" he said, gesturing behind him.

"Not now! Before! That stunt you pulled with the guards! You almost got yourself captured. What would I do if you got put in jail? You know full well I can't divulge that you're my son! You could have been killed!" Aidan looked at the ground, and then glanced at his father as if for support. Robin sighed.

"Marian. I took care of it." Marian scowled. She stared at her son levelly.

"You need to be careful, Aidan. I mean it; you won't always escape so easily. And if you are captured, you will be treated as a regular criminal. Do not rely on your father to get you out of situations like that; he won't always be able to save you. Understand?"

Aidan narrowed his eyes but nodded. He hated being talked to as a child. He knew all of that, and he was fully aware of what he was doing.

"You should go take the water up to camp," Robin said, satisfied that Marian had said all she needed to. Aidan looked up and met his father's gaze. He wasn't off the hook for being gone when the gang returned yet, that much was obvious from Robin's expression. But Aidan was still caught up with the pleasure of meeting someone new in the forest…someone interesting. Someone he wanted to get to know. He was beginning to find new comfort in staying in the forest. He murmured a quick goodbye to his mother, left his parents and mounted the hill, feeling more alive than he had in months.


	7. Chapter 7

As Aidan walked into camp steadily, albeit a tad starry-eyed, the gang looked up at him suspiciously.

"Where have you been?" Little John asked gruffly, seating himself next to the now roaring fire, adding sticks to the heat.

"I was getting water!" He realized this was not going to be enough to satisfy them, so he sighed. "If you must know, I was helping a man with a horse that got loose. I ended up quite a ways away from the camp by the time I was through, and the man and I got to talking. He offered to take me home, but seeing as how I live in the forest, and he cant know that, I decided to walk. It took me a while to get back, though. Okay?!"

John nodded, satisfied with his answer. However, as Aidan glanced up furtively at Allan, he noticed his intense stare. He didn't buy the story. Aidan's thoughts flitted hopelessly to the girl he had met.

"Ah ha…I do believe our Aidan was with a girl!" Allan announced triumphantly.

"I was not!" Aidan retorted, his traitorous cheeks becoming red and flushed. How did Allan figure out things like this?

"Oh, don't lie," Allan laughed. "I know that look. Go on, tell us! What'd she look like?"

Aidan groaned, but resigned himself to describing Josalyn in detail, only leaving out her name.

"Ahh…you've picked a winner there! Sounds feisty!" Aidan shrugged, becoming redder still.

Will leaned forward. "So what's her name?"

"Josalyn."

"She have a last name, too?" he asked, smiling gently.

"Um…I don't know her last name." He replied, noticing this for the first time.

"I see you weren't big on exchanging pleasantries." Will said, laughing.

"Right to business. Good man. Don't want to get too attached, after all." Allan said, nodding appreciatively.

"Allan! It wasn't like that! I only just met her today in the forest!"

Allan scrunched up his brow, as if trying to solve a difficult problem. "So?" He finally asked.

Aidan rolled his eyes. "SO I just talked to her, that's all."

"Now why on earth would you do a thing like that?"

Will shoved his friend's head and smiled at Aidan. "Don't you listen to him. It's good that you're getting to know her. Now where exactly did you meet this girl?"

At that point Robin walked into camp, and Aidan got up quickly. Allan and Will returned to their meals without another word. Giving them a grateful smile, Aidan tried to go inside and to sleep. Robin had other ideas.

"Now where were you this afternoon, exactly?" Robin asked, arms folded.

Aidan groaned, and resigned himself to telling the same story he had just relayed to Allan and Will, leaving out the information about Josalyn. Robin seemed to believe him, because he shrugged and jerked his head behind him, allowing him to pass into the shelter. Robin had decided against informing Aidan of his plan just yet. After some… arm-twisting, Robin had persuaded Marian to let him start taking Aidan out of the forest. He thought it would be better to let the gang in on this first.

Meanwhile, Aidan was quite content being in the forest. Two days later, Aidan rejoiced in the fact that he could roam the whole forest again. He woke up that morning to find his father and John out already. The other members of the gang were eating breakfast. Aidan stretched, and cleared his throat.

"Well, I think I'll take a walk. I'll be back later." He said, starting to leave camp.

"Whoa, wait a minute. Where are you going? Don't you want breakfast?" Much asked, perplexed. Aidan shook his head.

"I'm just…going on a walk, Much. I'm not that hungry, actually."

He caught the glance of both Will and Allan, and scowled, as Allan was laughing silently at him.

"You have fun, then." Allan said, grinning.

Feeling the heat returning to his face, Aidan shrugged it off and left hurriedly. He walked deliberately towards Josalyn's camp, although staying on the trail. Once he found the spot Josalyn had returned him to last time, he took a moment to mentally record this place, so he wouldn't get lost again. Then he began to stroll slowly through the woods, getting nearer and nearer to the village, whistling loudly. It wasn't long before he heard the snapping of a tree branch behind him. He turned, and his breath caught in his throat. There she was. Her hair was up in a clasp behind her head, accentuating her perfectly sculpted face. She looked mildly surprised to see him there, although something in her eyes told him that she had been expecting him to return.

"You lost?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No…I mean.. I," How was it that he could go days thinking about the moment when he saw her again, but not actually plan something to say! Aidan rebuked himself before gathering his thoughts and saying calmly, "I grew up learning to appreciate and respect women. Now, you so kindly saved me a few days ago. And I could not let that go unnoticed. So, I have put it upon myself to return the favor, at any cost."

Aidan could see a smile playing on her lips. "You…save me?"

Aidan nodded.

"Does it look like I need saving?" She asked.

"Well, not at this particular moment, no. But if and when the case arises, I will be here."

"Like a knight in shining armor?" She asked, a definite smile falling upon her stunning face.

"Exactly. That would make you…a damsel in distress." Aidan said, returning her smile.

Suddenly, the smile left her face as abruptly as it had appeared.

"Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but I think I can fend for myself, thank you very much."

Aidan was a little taken aback, but he recovered quickly. "If you say so. Allright, my damsel-in-complete-control, would you take a walk with me?"

The ferocity that was in her face a moment before dissolved slightly. She glanced behind her warily. Biting her lip, she regained her composure and raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I would go anywhere with you?" She asked, although she was already beginning to walk beside him.

"Well, I am a bit famous, after all, seeing as Robin Hood is a distant relative of mine." A devilish smile played on his lips as he brought up their little inside joke.

She nodded slowly. Allright, lets play a game. I ask you a question, and you answer, completely honestly. Then it's your turn."

Aidan rolled his eyes. "SUCH a woman's game."

The ferocity returned to her eyes. "Or we could swordfight. Whichever you prefer."

Aidan smiled. She was so cute when she was mad. "Allright, allright. You go first."

"Okay. Truth, now. Robin Hood?"

Aidan nodded. "My father. Although I didn't actually go live with him until a few years ago."

Josalyn smiled, in an almost triumphant manner. "Like I thought."

Aidan rolled his eyes again. "Yes, congratulations, you win. Shall we dwell on that, or can I get to know you?" he asked in a huff.

She laughed. "Go ahead then, my "knight". Ask away."

"Tell me about your family."

"That's not really a question."

"Do I need to rephrase it?"

"No…I'll answer." Her face fell. "Well, my father is kind of the leader of this… crusade against Robin Hood. No…crusade is the wrong word for it. This, vendetta, I guess? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because he knows as well as I do that Robin…your father…acts in complete selflessness for as many people as he can. However, one time, right when Robin Hood was beginning to gain a following, Hood infuriated the Sheriff. He sent his men to our village because he was positive we were harboring one of Robin Hood's men. At that point, we were all under the wing of Hood, we were all "protected", we all believed that this man would finally restore justice. And so my cousin, Jeremy, stood up to the soldiers, confidant that, even if he was arrested, Hood would come to his rescue. But the men didn't give him the chance. They shot him in the chest with an arrow before anyone quite knew what had happened." Her eyes brimmed with tears momentarily, before she blinked them back and took a deep breath. "There was nothing anyone could do. It couldn't have been stopped. But my father…he can't let it go. Jeremy's parents, my aunt and uncle, died long ago. Jeremy had been staying with us, and my father loved him like a son." She sighed. It's been over four years now. I know that it really changed my father. He looks for any excuse he can to blame our lives on Robin Hood. Any time we are low on food, it is Hood's fault. Any time soldiers ransack our village, its Hood's fault. My mother doesn't feel the same way, but she supports him because she understands how heartbroken he was. And my brother…my brother has been trying ever since to fill the place of Jeremy. Although we are very close…it seems to come between us a lot."

"Your brother?"

"Caleb, of course. He will go along with my father on anything, despite how absurd it might be."

Silence followed this description.

"I'm sorry about Jeremy." Aidan said finally, noticing afterwards how feeble this apology seemed.

"I told you, it's no ones fault." She smiled a little. "Allright, my turn. I want to know about the gang."

"The gang? As in…all of them?"

"Yes! I've heard all the stories, of course. But I want to know what they're really like, beyond the fame."

She sounded so sincere that Aidan found himself opening up and giving her information he never thought he would tell anyone. He told her of Will and Allan, how much they were like his family. He told her of the romance between Will and Djaq, about the lesser-known hero, Much, who took care of the gang as a whole. They kept walking for a long time, asking each other questions. Finally, they strayed a bit too close to the camp, and Aidan tried to turn them away, into a new direction.

It was then that Josalyn asked, "So Aidan. What exactly do you think of me? Too bold? Not ladylike enough?" She grinned.

Aidan was silent a minute, leading them towards a clearing. He stepped carefully over a concealed string on the ground, and she stepped on it. Instantly, a net came flying down, and she was caught in a tangle of ropes. Josalyn screamed. Aidan laughed, instantly appreciative of all the traps they had set around the camp, and looked on at Josalyn in the mess of ropes.

"On the contrary. I think you are a damsel in distress."


	8. Chapter 8

Aidan stood at ease, watching in amusement as Josalyn tried to free herself of the net that Aidan had helped to construct. After a moment or two, he realized that her screams would no doubt have informed the gang that they had caught someone. Feeling his stomach drop, he quickly rushed over to a nearby tree, and gently loosened the rope that was holding up the net. He lowered it slowly to the ground, and then went over to help Josalyn out of the net, torn between laughing at her predicament and worrying about the arrival of the gang.

"Josalyn, please lower your voice. Please? And stay still, I have to get the net open."

He saw her glaring daggers at him and he fumbled with the thick ropes, clumsily untying them. She was making him nervous, as she was completely silent now. He glanced up the hill once, hearing faraway footsteps, and when he turned back around Josalyn had gotten free, and lunged herself at him. Caught unaware, Aidan tripped and fell backwards with her on top of him.

"How, DARE you let me get caught in that?!" she yelled as they landed. As soon as the shock of being on top of Aidan wore off, she pushed herself up until she was propped with one hand on the ground. She then smacked Aidan hard across the chest with her other hand.

Aidan laughed until she hit him, and then he stopped abruptly, because she hit pretty hard.

"Ow!' he protested, but the look on her face made him start laughing again. "Here, you have leaves in your hair," he said through his fits of laughter. She laughed too, still vaguely aware that she was lying on top of him. He reached up and took out a leaf, and for a moment, they stared at each other.

"Aidan?!" A voice broke through the momentarily still air.

Aidan jumped to his feet, carrying Josalyn with him, as otherwise she would have fallen over. Djaq, closely followed by Will and Allan, were all coming down the hill, looking very confused. That is, Djaq was looking very confused. Allan was laughing again, and Will turned around to make him shut up, although he looked about to smile himself.

Aidan straightened up, suddenly aware that he was holding onto Josalyn's forearms. They glanced at each other, and both hastily dropped their arms, turning to face the gang members.

"What exactly is going on here?" Allan asked, trying to sound stern and failing miserably.

"Um. We were just…that is to say..Josalyn and I were just walking and I…forgot there was a trap and we fell ove-"

"Forgot there was a trap?! You did not!" Josalyn responded heatedly, reaching over and smacking his arm. Aidan shrugged, trying not to laugh again.

"Um…you guys, this is Josalyn. Josalyn, this is Al-"

"Well of course I know who they are!" Josalyn responded breathlessly. Her anger diminished, and she smiled, awestruck at the gang members. "You are Allan-A-Dale, and you're Djaq, and you're Will Scarlett!" She glanced meaningfully between Djaq and Will, which made them turn surprised to face each other. How on earth did she know about the two of them? They both turned to face Aidan, who was concentrating on a leaf on the ground, looking anywhere but up at them.

Recovering from this surprise, Djaq was the first to greet her. "It's a pleasure meeting you." She said hesitantly.

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine! I have heard so much about all of you."

Another silence followed this, and finally Will cleared his throat and asked cautiously, "From which family are you, Josalyn?"

"Oh, Ardel. I'm from the Ardel family." She looked a little concerned at giving this information, and Aidan began to see why. Will's face paled a little, and Djaq pursed her lips. Allan grinned.

"Well, THIS should be interesting." He finally said.

Aidan looked around at the gang members, confused. "You've…heard of her family?"

Josalyn didn't look surprised. She looked at the ground a moment. "It makes sense…I understand if you don't want me on this side of the forest again."

Aidan scowled. " No! Of course that's not what we want!" He shook his head. "Josalyn, it doesn't matter who you're family is, I know you don't share their beliefs!"

Djaq shook her head. "Aidan, it isn't that simple. If Robin found her here…he would be furious. And if her family ever knew of this, they would probably kill you, Aidan."

"But I didn't even know Robin knew of them!" Aidan replied, confused.

She nodded. "Well, you know your father. His plans are revealed when they need to be. And since your family hasn't openly come here to attack us, Robin hasn't pressured the situation." She paused a moment to let Aidan digest this information. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry, but I think Josalyn needs to go back home." Josalyn turned instantly, beginning to walk. Aidan caught her hand, keeping her still.

"Are you going to tell Robin about this?" he asked warily.

Djaq exchanged a glance with Will, and then turned back.

"No. We will keep quiet, as long as you end…this…now. Won't we?" She turned to Allan, who jumped a little and responded, "of course!"

Aidan nodded slowly. He had no intention of ending his…friendship…with Josalyn, but they didn't need to know that. "Come on, Ill walk you back." He muttered to Josalyn.

As the rest of the gang walked back to camp, Aidan heaved a sigh. So they wouldn't be spending time with each other here. And they could hardly be seen in her village together. Did she even want to see him again? Out of the corner of his eye he realized that Josalyn was watching him. He turned to her, and she was staring intently at him. He suddenly became aware that he was still holding her hand. She didn't let go, so he carefully intertwined his fingers with hers and stared back.

"So I guess we will have to meet in secret then." She said, breaking the tense silence. Aidan smiled in relief.

"I guess so. This does make things more complicated!"

"Nothing I can't handle. What, too much of a risk for you, Aidan?" she asked as they began to walk again, and Aidan narrowed his eyes.

"Just business as usual. I like living on the edge." He said, straightening up to his full height. Josalyn laughed lightly. Her laugh was peaceful and calming, and Aidan decided he loved the sound. They walked back, talking the entire way. When they reached the part in the path where Josalyn broke off, they paused.

"Will I see you soon?" She asked.

Aidan nodded. "Meet me here tomorrow? At midday." Josalyn smiled. "If you insist.

Aidan and Josalyn met the next day, and the day after that as well.

The gang remained true to their word; Robin didn't find out about Josalyn. In fact, he was being kept quite busy building a shelter-like structure in another part of the forest, for storage reasons. He was out most of the day and returned well after Aidan came back from his walks with Josalyn. This worked well for Aidan, although he had to come up with an excuse to keep the rest of the gang from suspecting anything. He made up a story about wanting to improve his archery skills, and each day he took his bow out with him. The excuse seemed to work. By the third day of seeing each other, Aidan and Josalyn were accustomed to holding hands as they walked. The day was beautiful, and Aidan decided to lead them by a creek in the forest. As they walked, Josalyn became quiet, and watched the light bounce off the water, making the creek sparkle. They walked along until the creek became wider and very deep. The water gurgled past them as they stood at the edge. Suddenly, Josalyn let go of his hand with a shriek.

"Aidan, look, a turtle!" She pointed along the bank they were standing on, but Aidan couldn't see a turtle anywhere. He leaned further over the bank, and before he knew it, he felt a shove from behind, and he gasped as the cold water pierced through his clothing. He shook his wet hair back behind his head and looked up at a laughing Josalyn. She shook her head.

"Honestly, Aidan, that is the oldest trick I know! I cannot believe you fell for that! As the son of Robin Hood, I thought you would know…you need to expect the unexpected!"

Aidan said nothing as he swam to the edge and put out his hand for her to help pull him out. She looked down skeptically at the dripping hand. "Right. You underestimate me. You really think I'm going to reach down and let you pull me in?"

Aidan shook his head. "I won't. I promise."

So Josalyn reached out and helped him up. He was true to his word, and got up on the bank, allowing his clothes to wring out in the sun. Josalyn laughed again, and informed him, "that was for getting me stuck in the net".

Aidan smiled reluctantly. "Allright. You got me. So, we are even now?" Josalyn shrugged.

"I guess we are." They walked a little further, and Aidan suddenly bent down and picked up two smooth rocks from the bank.

"Lets see how far you can throw." He said challengingly. He handed her a rock, and then threw his rock as far as he could down the creek. It landed with a satisfying splash a ways away. "Your turn."

Josalyn furrowed her brow in concentration, pulled back her arm, and the next thing she knew, she was in the icy water. She looked up the bank, mouth agape.

Aidan smiled. "Josalyn, Josalyn. You must learn to expect the unexpected!"

She stared at him wordlessly as he smugly crossed his arms and grinned at her. "That was the element of surprise. I'll teach it to you some time." She shook her head, thinking up ways to kill him as she swam to the bank. Before she had even arrived, his hand was ready to pull her up. She accepted the hand reluctantly, and he pulled her a little farther than necessary, so that she was thrown into him. He caught her upper arms, and she rested her hands on his shoulders. Before either had time to think, Aidan leaned forward and she eagerly met his lips in an unexpected kiss. The moment was far from fairytale perfect, as they were both soaking wet and shivering, but it suited them well. They broke apart, and laughed at each other. Aidan felt a flurry of emotion as he realized with a jolt that he was falling for Josalyn, and by the way she was looking at him, it seemed as if her thinking wasn't far off from his. She smiled somewhat shyly at him, and he took her hand again. They walked in silence for a moment, before Josalyn turned to him and laughed.

"What if you're father found out about us?" she asked suddenly.

Aidan shook his head with a grimace. "What if yours did?!"

She took a deep breath, and squeezed his hand before letting go to push her wet hair behind her head. " I think it's a safe bet that you would be dead either way."

"I find that so unfair. My father would never kill you. But your father wouldn't think twice about killing me!" Aidan said, frowning at her.

"Right, because I'm a woman." She replied, staring at him tauntingly. He said nothing, and finally she turned to him and realized he was silently mimicking her last statement.

She shoved his shoulder playfully. "If you don't treat me with more respect, you just might lose me, Aidan." She said in a huff, her eyes still laughing.

"Well, I know if I lose you, I'll just move on to one of the other maidens." He said, looking to rile her up.

"_Other maidens_?" She asked furiously, raising an eyebrow harshly.

"Well, yes. I mean, I try to…"befriend" one from every village. Keep 'em spread out so they don't find out about each other." He grinned wickedly, and tried to hold her hand again, but she pushed him away and began to flounce off in the opposite direction. Aidan deftly caught hold of her wrist, spun her around quickly and kissed her again.

The kiss lasted longer this time, and when she finally broke away, she tried her hardest not to smile. She crossed her arms across her chest.

"You really expected that to work?" she asked in what would have been a scornful tone if she weren't shining with happiness.

Aidan paused. "It does with the other maidens," he laughed.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N- Hey- once again, sorry for the ridiculously long time between posts. I had exams last week. Less than fun. Anywho, I've got two updates tonight. The second one is more exciting haha. Oh, and by the way, since I haven't mentioned this yet (my bad), I don't own Robin Hood or pretend to. However, I do own Aidan and Josalyn. **

"Focus, Aidan."

He drew his arm back for what felt like the thousandth time, trying to repress a sigh. They had been out all morning working on his archery, and he was dying to meet with Josalyn. He took a deep breath, steadied his hand, and let go of the arrow. The target was on a distant tree, and Aidan's arrow hit directly above it. He lowered the bow, frustrated, and ran a hand through his hair. He stole a glance at Robin.

Robin was standing with his arms crossed staring, perplexed, at his son. To the best of his knowledge, Aidan had been practicing his skills with a bow for the past two weeks. And yet, this morning, he had missed most of his shots.

"Aidan. This isn't a difficult shot…you need to concentrate if you want to come along on our next raid."

Aidan sucked in his cheek and raised an eyebrow. His father had spoken to him earlier about starting to join them outside of the forest. If he had said this a month ago, Aidan would have been overjoyed to leave the confines of his home, but ever since he met Josalyn…the forest was starting to outweigh the town. He could hardly explain this to Robin, though. From what he had gathered in the last few weeks, the Ardel family, chiefly Josalyn's father, had been trying their best to disadvantage the gang for years. They were responsible for Much getting thrown in jail a year before; they had tipped off the guards about their whereabouts on one venture, and had almost caused the guards to stumble across the camp. This frustrated Robin to no end; he had a relatively amiable relationship with most townspeople; although it was true he rarely visited the Ardel's village anymore, he had not abandoned them and he didn't understand the hostility they showed him. There was more than one reason Aidan was kept in the forest so long. Their village was not a safe place for him to be found. However, apart from keeping his son away from them, Robin didn't pressure the situation. He didn't want to risk confronting the group, and so he kept an eye on them from a distance.

And Aidan was having a hard time concentrating. He kept thinking of Josalyn when he raised his bow. Josalyn, who by now would be waiting in the clearing they always met in. He imagined her pacing back and forth, shoving her long hair out of her face and becoming agitated. But he realized he would never leave the camp if he didn't start focusing, so he pushed Josalyn as far back in his mind as he could. Admittedly, this was just below the surface of conscious thought, but he figured that was the best he could do and strung another arrow on his bow. This time, he was able to hit the center of the target easily. He grinned triumphantly and turned to Robin. Robin was not impressed.

"Good. You can still do what you could do when you were twelve. Wonderful. Again."

Aidan tried not to roll his eyes, but in the next ten minutes, he had hit the target successfully every shot. He was feeling pretty confident as he strung the bow again, so this time he struck out for a harder target. He focused his attention on shooting his arrow between a few low hanging branches, to hit a target on a tree in the distance. He angled himself appropriately, and let go of the arrow. He watched as the arrow flew, as if guided by some outside force, through the limbs to strike the tree. Aidan laughed in surprise, running to the tree to see just how incredible his shot was. He swaggered back to where his father was standing, arms still folded.

Robin frowned at him. "You think that shows bravery? Rushing to see how good of a shot you are? A truly confident outlaw knows exactly where his arrow will hit. Observe."

He drew back his arm deftly, and focused on the same target Aidan had shot at. Then he turned to face Aidan, and didn't break his gaze as he let the arrow go. He then turned his back and walked back towards camp, without a backwards glance. Aidan alone turned back to face the target. His father had hit the dead center. Sometimes it really bothered him how good of an outlaw Robin was. He realized, of course, that his father was trying to tone down his overconfidence, which in the grand scheme of things was probably a good idea, but it still bothered him.

Later that day, despite the fact that Aidan was dying to stay in the forest, Robin decided he would take Aidan into town to distribute food to the villagers of Nottingham. Not a thrilling adventure, but a good taste of the values he was trying to install in his son. Aidan thought longingly of meeting Josalyn in the clearing, although by this point she would have come and left. He tried not to dwell on this, because under different circumstances he would have been thrilled to go into Nottingham. He was actually excited to distribute food, despite what he was giving up to go. They made their way into town, and Robin decided to split them up to cover the most families in the shortest amount of time. Will and Djaq immediately paired off together, and Much rolled his eyes. Allan and John took bags and left as well, leaving Much with Robin and Aidan.

"Allright. You need to remain inconspicuous. Stay in shadows, walk with your head down, and don't make eye contact with the guards. If you don't make yourself noticed, you can get away with a lot." Robin instructed, as Aidan flipped up the hood of his shirt and hunched his shoulders. Robin grinned.

"Stand up straight though. Good posture is important for an outlaw," he said with mock seriousness. Aidan was about to straighten when he glanced up to see his father laughing. He scowled, and started walking into town.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You don't know which homes to give to!" Robin called back to him. He caught up to his son and showed him where to go and how to distribute the food subtly. Nottingham was the most dangerous of their drop-offs. It didn't make the trip more exciting in Aidan's eyes, but it was something to think about as they ambled around the town. Aidan quickly forgot his hesitation in coming that day; he watched happily as the people he gave to smiled gratefully, the children laughing and delighting in the food. He had just finished giving out to the last family when he heard voices behind him. One was a woman's voice, low and melodious. It was a beautiful voice, but the sound itself didn't catch Aidan's attention. His ears pricked up on the name she called. He could have sworn she had just said "Josalyn". He turned quickly, and was almost face to face with the woman. He ducked his head instinctively, murmuring a pardon as he slipped out of her path. However, he wasn't good with directions, especially with his eyes glued to the ground, and he spun away from the direction he meant to go in, and in doing so nearly bowled over a younger woman. He had to look up then, and there was Josalyn. His breath caught in his throat, and for a moment the two stared at each other. His hood slipped back off his head, and Josalyn smiled.

"Where were you today?" She asked, glancing back surreptitiously to check that her mother was engrossed in a conversation with an older woman.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "I couldn't get away. I'm helping my father…"

Her eyes grew wide at the significance of this task. She nodded, smiling up at him.

"Well…you should get back to him then." She glanced out at the street, as if hoping to catch a glimpse of the rest of the gang. Aidan did so to, and only then realized that he wasn't wearing his hood, and he was in the middle of the pathway. Mentally rebuking himself, he pulled his hood up swiftly, ducked his head, and said quietly, "tomorrow, then?"

She bobbed her head up and down, still half-searching for the gang. Aidan smiled, and before she had time to look back at him, he slipped into the shadows of the surrounding homes along the crowded pathway, and rejoined his father and Much. Robin frowned disapprovingly at him.

"What?" he asked nervously. But Robin shook his cloaked head and motioned for him to follow Much back out of the town. Aidan sighed, hoping he had not drawn too much attention to himself in the street. As soon as they were back in the forest, Robin pushed his hood off his head.

"Aidan, you have to remain inconspicuous! That was the first thing I told you today! You can hardly expect not to be noticed when you're seen handing out food in the middle of the path!"

Aidan sighed. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Speaking of which, whom were you talking to? That girl? She looked familiar."

Aidan stiffened, and watched Robin out of the corner of his eye. "Well…you've probably handed out to her before."

Robin nodded, but still seemed perturbed. "But she isn't from Nottingham. I know all of the families in Nottingham, and she isn't part of one. Did she say where she was from?"

"No. She just…she just thanked me. For the food." He tried to change the subject. "I really enjoyed myself today. It was really…moving." (Successful change of topic, and he didn't even have to lie. He felt pretty good about that.)

Robin grinned. "I knew you would. You'll have to come along more often now!" Aidan nodded enthusiastically, his thoughts already trailing back to meeting with Josalyn the next day.


	10. Chapter 10

Aidan waited patiently once he reached the clearing. They each had an understanding to wait a while if they arrived first, as it was not always easy to slip away. Josalyn came out of the trees then, unbelievably quietly. Aidan marveled in the way she walked; ever so softly, making close to no noise. He imagined she would be a good thief. However, he shook these thoughts out of his head, and walked over to her, planting a kiss on her lips. She grinned at this, and then took Aidan's hand, swinging her arm at her side. "So, where shall we go today?"

Aidan opened his mouth, and then closed it again, thinking of how Robin had recognized her. He abruptly changed the subject. "Where did you see Robin Hood? You told me you've seen him twice."

She cocked her head to the side, thinking. Then she nodded. "Well…I haven't told you this yet. You see, my mother and I…and…well Caleb too I suppose…one of the duties the sheriff has us perform is taking care of the horses."

"The horses? What horses? The sheriff's horse? How could the sheriff force you to care for his horses?"

She shook her head. " The sheriff uses many of the families in our villages to do his bidding. This is our task. And no, his horse is in use too often. We take care of the horses of less prominent people than the sheriff…by no means unimportant people, just…horses that can't fit in the stable in the castle."

Aidan nodded. "Whose horses do you have?"

She thought… "Well, we have a few of the sheriff's guards horses. Most of them remain in Nottingham for quick use, but if one is injured, or it needs new horseshoes, or it needs to be groomed, they take it to our stables. And then we have Sir Edward's horse, and Lady Marian's. Hers is my favorite. It's so gentle." She gushed, smiling at the thought of the horse. Aidan was a little taken aback by this. He hadn't quite comprehended that Josalyn didn't know who his mother was, although come to think of it, there wasn't any reason why she would. He thought about telling her, but decided against it. That was THE family secret. There were many secrets in his family, of course, but that was the big one. If he told that, he would basically have to marry her. Which wasn't an altogether unappealing idea. Aidan tried to clear his head again and when he resurfaced, Josalyn was still telling him about the horses. He waited patiently for a pause in her speech.

"So what does that have to do with seeing Robin?"

She smiled. "Well, one time he came to the stable and took Lady Marian's horse. I can see why, I mean, it is the best of the horses…and I saw him riding off with it. Unfortunately, a guard saw him too. And another time, well, I saw him handing out food in Nottingham. He was wearing a hood, of course, but I knew it was him."

Aidan nodded, his attention drifting back to the first point. "Do you ride the horses?," he asked. She stayed silent for a moment.

"Well…we do when they're injured and recovering…but not otherwise". Aidan smiled.

"Can I see them?"

"The horses?"

He nodded, and Josalyn bit her lip.

"I mean, unless your family would find us. Does your father usually go out to the stables?"

Josalyn thought about this. "No…it's usually just my mother and I. The stable's about halfway between Nottingham and the outskirts of our village, so we take turns going out to feed and groom the horses. In fact, I just came from the stables when I met with you."

Aidan nodded. "And Caleb?"

Josalyn laughed. "He's not much for grooming the animals, but when we get a colt or a particularly wild one, he's more than happy to tame and train it. He's thatching roofs with my father today."

That was all the reassurance Aidan needed, and he grabbed her hand anxiously. "Can we go see them?"

Josalyn smiled at the anticipation on his face, and gave in. She pulled him forward, and pretty soon they were running together through the forest. Josalyn turned sharply, dragging Aidan behind her, and stopped when she reached the edge of the forest. Aidan could hear the activity from the village, which was down a sloping hill from them. They were in back of the house that was furthest back from the small town, and right in the middle of the yard stood a giant apple tree. Josalyn put out a hand to stop Aidan inside the forest, and then lightly sprang forward to collect a few apples in her hands. She then ran back quietly, and handed one of the apples to Aidan. She grinned fleetingly, and ran alongside the edge of the forest away from the town, her hair flying out behind her. Aidan couldn't help laughing at how completely graceful, but completely unorthodox she was, sprinting in her long skirts, an apple in each hand. Only she could make running through a forest look completely dignified. Finally she slowed down, and stepped into a large, open field. A rickety gate surrounded it, and in one corner there stood a large wooden stable. Josalyn hopped over the fence and reached over to pat the horse closest to the edge of the field. She gave it an apple, and then continued into the stable. Inside it was open and airy, with dead grass spread along the ground for the horses kept inside. Josalyn instinctively made for the far corner of the stables, and Aidan realized happily that his mother's horse was indeed inside. Josalyn handed another apple to this horse, rubbing her hand along the horse's flank and smiling appreciatively at it. Aidan smiled.

"You want to ride it?" He asked hopefully.

She turned quickly, dropping her hand to her side. "We can't just ride the horses whenever we feel like, Aidan. They don't belong to us. We take care of them, let them out into the field to graze, and then when the time comes, a guard notifies us and we take them to Nottingham." She glanced wistfully at the horse before turning and walking back to Aidan, who frowned skeptically.

"Who's going to know? I thought you said it was just your family who takes care of the horses?"

Josalyn shrugged. "Yes…"

"So then who will know if you ride them?" She bit her lip.

" I guess…I guess it wouldn't be so bad to ride one…just around the field a bit. Besides, it would be good to give them a little exercise…" she reasoned quickly, sounding more and more enchanted with the idea. Aidan looked around and picked out another fine looking horse, which was already saddled. Josalyn followed his gaze.

"Ah, that would be the newest member of the guard's horses. He's a bit feisty, that one. They just brought him here this morning." Aidan smiled. He hadn't ridden a horse for fun in a long time…not since he lived with Lizbeth. Every once in a while, Marian would come to visit him, and she allowed him to practice riding when she came. He had always loved riding- loved the speeds he could achieve, loved the thundering of hooves and most of all the thrill of riding. He had been reacquainted with his love for horses when he caught the man's horse a few weeks ago, and was more than willing to get back on. But Josalyn laughed lightly.

"I think you better take Lady Marian's horse. Trust me- this one will buck you off unless you are familiar with it." So she helped him saddle Marian's horse, and then they led the two out of the stable and into the cool, lovely outdoors. At first they rode slowly, allowing the horses to trot through the field at their own pace. But Aidan soon tired of riding around the fenced in field, and suggested that they take the horses through the forest. Josalyn balked at this idea.

"Aidan, we can't! We aren't supposed to let the horses outside of the fence- if someone saw us, they would think we were stealing them!"

Aidan shrugged. "We can just say we are taking them into town for Marian…and…a guard." He finished, laughing. Josalyn looked worried, but Aidan smiled soothingly at her.

"It will be fine! Don't worry so much! No one will suspect you of thievery- you look too innocent." With a last grin at her, he prodded his horse forward into a fast trot, only slowing enough to unlatch the gate and then continue onward. He didn't bother to look back; he knew that comment would spur her into action. Indeed, he had hardly gotten into the forest when he heard the galloping of hooves behind him as Marian's horse charged ahead of his own. Within an instant they were racing, having the time of their lives as the wind blew their hair backwards, and all they could hear was the air pulsing backwards past them, and their own laughter. Finally they slowed, trotting side by side through a wide trail. They rounded a bend in time to see three Nottingham guards sauntering slowly down the path toward them. Josalyn gasped, obviously frightened, but Aidan gave her a knowing glance and turned, smile on his face, to acknowledge the guards.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." He said cordially, his voice smooth and pleasant. The guards looked up, surprised that a villager would speak to them pleasantly. They nodded, taken aback, and Aidan turned to Josalyn.

"See," he whispered quietly. "They didn't suspect a thing. It's all about how you presen-"

"Oi! You there! Stop that horse! That's Lady Marian's, that is!" One of the guards had stopped in his tracks, and was pointing indignantly at the horse. The other two guards, puzzled, turned around to stare suspiciously up at Aidan.

Aidan cleared his throat. "Aye, that it is. We were just taking it down to her, but we got a little sidetracked. The horse was thirsty. Come to think of it, we were a little thirsty too." He laughed in what appeared to be a lighthearted manner, although his heart was beating loudly and his knuckles were clenched against the reigns of the horse.

One of the guards smiled, satisfied, and turned around, but his comrade stopped him. "Lady Marian is attending a meeting all day with Guy of Gisbourne. She has no use for her horse today! You're stealing those horses!"

Aidan gulped, turned to Josalyn, and called out "Ride!" Josalyn flew out in front of him, and he pushed his horse faster as they rounded another bend, picking up speed. He wished they had actually gotten the horses water; his was clearly getting tired. However, they had almost lost sight of the guards, and just when Aidan thought they could slow down, he heard Josalyn's horse whinny and rear backwards. Astonishingly, Josalyn stayed on the horse, and soothed it expertly once it had returned to the ground. But Josalyn remained wide- eyed and scared out of her wits, for they had practically run into four more of the Sheriff's guards. They turned their horses hopelessly, as the guards from before caught up to them, and explained breathlessly to the other four that they were horse thieves. Before either one of them could explain their actions, Aidan found himself being hauled down roughly off the horse, and they were dragged beyond the gates of Nottingham, into the castle, and up to the dungeons. It happened so quickly that Aidan lost sight of Josalyn, until he was thrown into a jail cell, with his beloved right behind him. She was shaking like mad, and Aidan reached out to calm her down, but she threw him a fierce glare and retreated to the opposite side of the cell without a word. Tears began falling down her face, and she turned away from Aidan bitterly. Aidan felt terrible, so he walked across the cell and tried to brush her hair out of her eyes and apologize, but she turned and slapped him hard across the face.

"Stay…away from me." She choked out through tears. This didn't surprise Aidan, but it still stung as he hesitantly sat down on the other side of the cell. It was his fault they were in this predicament. If they had only stayed in the field like Josalyn had wanted…

His thoughts immediately went into problem-solving mode, as he struggled through the mess he had created, trying to find a viable way out. Each time he thought about it, his thoughts turned to his father, and his stomach churned. Robin would be furious. In fact, that was an understatement. If there was one thing Robin had ground into his son's brain, it was to avoid being arrested at all costs, because there was no telling how or if he could get back out. When he found out that Aidan had gotten thrown in jail for stealing a horse, and then riding it through the trails, as if parading his crime…Aidan closed his eyes, willing himself not to think about his father's reaction. How could he have been so foolish? And to put Josalyn in danger…he urged himself to find a way out, any way out.

Meanwhile, Marian was indeed attending a meeting with Guy. It had just ended, and the two were in a carriage, traveling back to Nottingham from the large estate the council was held in. Guy was trying, and failing, to charm Marian, when three of the castle's guards rode out to meet them. One of them spoke to the carriage driver, who hesitantly swung himself down to the ground, and opened the carriage door. "Begging your pardon, Lady Marian, but we have caught a couple of horse thieves stealing your horse. They are up in the dungeons..." Marian frowned. To the best of her knowledge, only a stable girl and her mother knew where the horses were. She could not imagine either one stealing her horse. With this in mind, she rushed up to the dungeons to see the culprits. She immediately spotted Josalyn, who was sitting in a corner of the jail cell, her eyes red from crying. When Josalyn noticed Marian, she got up and flew to the edge of the cell, grasping the bars and explaining in a jumble,

"Lady Marian please forgive me, I didn't mean for this to happen. It will never happen again, I promise you!"

Marian put up her hand, gently silencing the girl. "Slow down, slow down. It's all right. What happened?"

Josalyn took a deep breath, but before she could speak a new voice joined them. "It was my fault," Aidan said loudly, stepping out of the shadowy cell to face his mother and Guy of Gisbourne.


	11. Chapter 11

Marian's eyes grew wide with terror, and then slowly narrowed as she stared at her son. Aidan took a deep breath and continued.

"My name is Jonathan, I'm Josalyn's cousin. I saw her riding the horse around the meadow, and I decided to scare her a little, so I jumped out from behind a tree. It really spooked the horse, though, and the animal took off over the fence," he said, trying to sound sheepish.

"Stupid boy." Gisbourne commented darkly from behind Marian.

"In any case, the horse wouldn't slow down, so I got on another horse, yours, I'm afraid," he gestured to Marian, "and I tried to track the horse down. By the time I caught up to it and we were able to soothe it, we were in the middle of a trail near Nottingham. When we saw the soldiers, I got scared because the horses aren't supposed to be out of the stable…so I lied and said we were bringing the horse to Lady Marian. Then we were brought here. I'm awfully sorry, milady." He ended, hanging his head. Josalyn was stunned by this lie. It had come so easily to him.

Gisbourne rolled his eyes. "We ought to keep them here in the dungeon for a while- teach them not to fool around with the horses. Idiot boy." He drawled, looking over the teenagers in disgust.

But Marian turned quickly. "No. I mean…please, Sir Guy, I would…I would be much obliged if you let them go. They didn't do any harm."

Guy hesitated, entranced by Marian's sweet voice and piercingly beautiful gaze. He glanced at Aidan, and then did a sort of double take as he saw his face. For a second, there was a flash of recognition, of suspicion, but before he had time to dwell on this, Marian's hand had plunged into his, and she was directing his gaze toward her.

"Guy…please." Aidan noticed this closeness, and scowled at Guy. He really disliked that man.

Gisbourne crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, before reluctantly handing Marian the keys, but right as he opened his mouth to speak a guard came sprinting into the dungeons.

"Guy. We need a word." He was breathless, but he appeared happy. Guy frowned at this intrusion, but with a glance back he put up a finger to tell Marian to wait, and then followed the guard outside the door, which swung closed behind him. Marian was alone in the jail with Aidan and Josalyn. She quickly opened the cell door, and Josalyn walked out, still looking panicked. Marian glared at Aidan, who looked at the ground, ashamed. She strode forward and threw her arms protectively around her son, hugging him fiercely. Aidan knew the step that came after relief, so he didn't make a move to hug her back. Sure enough, she broke apart from him, reached out, and cuffed him hard across the side of the head. "You just wait until your father hears about this…" she began, shaking her head furiously. "After all he did to keep you safe in the forest, after all I-"

Josalyn cut in then, "You know about his father? You know about," she lowered her voice cautiously, glancing furtively at the dungeon door, "Robin Hood?" Marian was taken aback. She had almost forgotten this girl was in the room…and she looked between Aidan and Josalyn for a moment, stunned.

"_You_ know about his father?" she asked faintly, as an understanding filled her. Her son…and this girl… Of course; that explained the irrational behavior. It didn't condone his actions, but she was able to understand them now. But he had told this girl about Robin?! She didn't know much about the girl; only that she worked on her horse in the stables with her mother, and that she was always very polite and shy. But to trust her with this much information…she looked again at Aidan, searing a hole in him with her eyes. He sighed.

"Yes, she knows." He was speaking to both of them. Aidan hoped beyond hope that Josalyn would not connect the dots, but of course it was to no avail. As Josalyn's eyes grew wide with understanding, Aidan thought wildly about accepting some form of god in his life, to pray to on occasions like this. Of course, he knew that was not the purpose of having faith; getting out of situations, but he would really have liked to fix this situation. Could gods do that for him? He snapped out of his reverie as Josalyn said almost in a whisper,

"You're Aidan's mother, aren't you?" Before she could respond, the door banged open again, causing all of them to jump. Gisbourne looked thrilled.

"Marian. I need to speak with you." Marian glanced at her son once more, an incomprehensible number of thoughts flashing in her eyes. She met Gisbourne outside the door, which he closed with a loud crack.

"Good news, Marian. Robin Hood is injured. We are closer to catching him now than we have ever been!" Marian's face paled, but she kept her voice steady as she asked, in what she hoped was an offhanded tone, "injured how badly?"

"Well, he and his little gang were caught scaling the side of the building…they were using a rope to climb up, and Hood was the highest one off the ground. They were on a pretty remote section of the wall, but the guards walked past at the right moment. Before the guards realized who it was, one of them cut the rope down, and Hood fell off the building to the ground. We do not know how injured he was, but he had to be carried off, so there's a good chance it is bad." He was practically giddy, and it was all Marian could do to remain calm and collected. She glanced swiftly back at the door to the jail, and Gisbourne seemed to realize for the first time that there were still prisoners inside. He opened the door swiftly.

"Well, leave already," he growled, "before I change my mind." Josalyn didn't need to be told twice; she hastily curtseyed and muttered a "pardon, milady" before making for the door. Aidan followed slowly, glancing back at Marian's face, which was noticeably darker. Marian turned to him.

"Yes, go home immediately", she couldn't help saying to his retreating figure.

Aidan stole out the doorway, and was led by a guard outside, where Josalyn was waiting. She walked, determined, in front of him, not saying a word, although she had a million questions about his past. Aidan reached out and was about to grab her hand to make her slow down when she whirled around.

"AIDAN, if you so much as touch me I will slap you again, don't think I won't." Aidan put up his hands in surrender. He didn't see why she was so upset. She wasn't the one in trouble now. Her family might not even hear about this, and even if they did, they would certainly hear from Marian how it was not her fault, and that the situation was a complete misunderstanding. Aidan would not be so lucky. Women were so confusing. He did manage to ask her not to say anything about what she had discovered that day. To this, Josalyn returned an icy stare.

"You really think I would tell someone about this?" He sighed. He couldn't get anything right today. After a chilling farewell, he followed his mother's advice, turning over her last statement in his head. She had been so upset when she returned…she hid it well but he recognized the fear in her eyes. She couldn't have been afraid about him; he was already safe by that point. He was still processing this as he slowly walked into the camp.

Aidan was disrupted by his thoughts as he registered the agitated vibe in the camp. Djaq was moving back and forth from the shelter and the fire, flanked by Will, and he could make out John's impressive form inside the shelter. Aidan barely saw Allan before he was lying sprawled on the ground, dizzy from how hard the man had hit him. Wincing, Aidan rubbed his jawbone. He could have sworn Allan broke something. He looked up to see Allan standing over him, furious. But before he could gain some sense of bearing, he was pulled back up by the shirt, and Allan looked about to hit him again. Aidan jumped back instinctively, and put up his hands to stop Allan. Allan paused, glaring at him. "Jeezes, Allan…" he muttered, already feeling his jaw throbbing. "What was that for? I mean…I guess I know what it was for…but why are you…what are…where exactly is my father?!"

"Well, that's just it, innit?! Trust me, if it were up to him, he would be out here. But he went to rescue you, he put himself in danger for you, and now he's got a head injury! Nice work, Aidan, really."

A thousand thoughts flew through his head at once, not the least of which was a cutting reply about how Allan had betrayed the gang and put them all in danger for months not too long ago, but he decided that he should go with his strongest instinct, which was to check on Robin. He ran up to the shelter, and made to go inside. Will grabbed his arm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…he may only just be conscious now, but every second he's been thinking clearly, he's wanted to go after you. He was furious, Aidan."

"And with good reason," Little John added tersely, coming out by the fire and glaring at the boy who they had all come to regard as family. Aidan sighed. As much as he appreciated his makeshift family; his older brother, who had taken it upon himself to make him pay for making a stupid decision, his other older brother, who was concerned for his safety now, his…uncle…who wanted him to learn from his actions; he would really just like to see his father. Despite Will's warning, he made his way in to see Robin, who was sitting propped up in his sleeping quarters. Djaq was finishing checking on an ugly looking welt on his head, and he winced as he turned to see his son. He had a bandage over his head and another held to his face, soaking up blood. His eyes clouded over, and he moved to get up. Djaq firmly pushed him back down.

"No. You need rest. You do not have the strength to do anything. Besides, the medicine will kick in soon. You rest; you can yell at Aidan later." Robin looked defeated; he laid back down in irritation and put a hand over his head, but he did say,

"That was the single most irresponsible thing you have ever done, Aidan." Aidan cringed at his father's admonishment. Then Djaq was leading him outside by the arm.

"Is he going to be okay?!" Aidan asked, as soon as they were out by the fire. Djaq, who was similarly upset with Aidan, but managed to hold her temper in check, put out her hands and made a motion for him to sit down. He sat, and she calmly told him that Robin was going to be okay, that he had a mild concussion and a broken nose from where he had hit his head against the wall as he reached the ground, but no memory loss, and that he would certainly not be "up and about" for a couple weeks at least. By up and about, Djaq was alluding to stealing and generally doing his job, which Aidan picked up on instantly.

"So what does this mean? Do I need to start going along on raids?" Djaq laughed coolly.

"Aidan, you will be incredibly lucky to leave this camp before your father does." Aidan nodded slowly, cursing himself for being so stupid. His father never got hurt like this…he didn't get caught. Aidan felt a lump in his throat as he realized that Robin got caught in his desire to get his son out safely, as quickly as possible, despite the consequences. Djaq noticed the sadness in the boy's eyes, and began to feel a bit sorry for him, despite how badly he had messed up.

"You scared us so much, Aidan." She said quietly. "That's why everyone is so mad. When we heard you were in the dungeons…I've never seen Will or Allan look so frightened. Or even Little John. And Much was ballistic, of course. Robin is not the only one looking after his family, here." Aidan smiled slightly…he was pretty universally loved in the gang. However, as he made his way to get a drink of water, cold eyes followed him, as if suspicious he would leave again.

Allan filled Aidan's spot by the fire. He stared after the kid guiltily. "I hated doing that."

"I know you did." Djaq responded, watching the man's expression cautiously.

"I don't know why I was…so…mad. I mean I was worried about him, yeah, but I was just…SO mad. I would have kept beating up on him, too, I wouldn't have stopped...," he whispered, shaking his head in confusion.

" I think I know why." She paused, and he looked up, the fire flickering in his sky blue eyes. "I'm guessing you weren't taking out your anger on Aidan alone."

He understood then. "Tom." He breathed softly. He sighed. "If I just had the chance to save him…to bring him back to camp…I would never have let him out of my sight again." He laughed, somewhat halfheartedly. "I guess Aidan's taken over the role of my pain in the ass little brother, huh?" He scratched his chin, allowing the painful memory of the last time he saw his baby brother slip away. He looked up to see Aidan come back to the fire, and suddenly he got up and threw his arms around the kid, engulfing him in a tight hug. Aidan, bewildered, waited until Allan broke away to cock an eyebrow and stare at him like he was crazy. "Are you okay?" Allan asked finally.

"Did you lose your memory or something, Allan?" Aidan asked, genuinely concerned for his "brother's" sanity. "You're the one who hit me!"

Allan shrugged, past the moment of sentiment. "You deserved it." Aidan couldn't argue this, so instead he just shook his head at how insane his family was.

**A/N- thanks for the reviews!! And if their way out of jail seemed too easy…well…lets just say Aidan hasn't seen the last of that dungeon. Next chapter: all about the Robin/ Aidan face-off. Perhaps face-off is the wrong word. Showdown? Confrontation? In any case, it'll be up this weekend! **


	12. Chapter 12

Aidan stayed in the camp that night, not that he had much of a choice. He stayed pretty quiet around the camp for the next few days, trying his best to make up for scaring the gang. He tried not to think about Josalyn, because whenever he did, he was struck with an uncontrollable desire to leave camp and find her. It was a while before Robin could go back out to work, and even then, it was a slow, gradual process. Under Djaq's orders, he was not allowed to lose his temper or do anything too stressful; for fear that he would hurt himself. Aidan became increasingly uncomfortable being around his father, because he still hadn't gotten told off for being arrested. Marian had apparently came to see Robin the night after the incident, although she arrived in the middle of the night, and Robin was the only one who saw her. However, they had apparently worked out some sort of deal for their delinquent son, because when Robin came into contact with Aidan, he merely fixed him with a steely glare. He wasn't angry, he was determined. 

This made Aidan beyond nervous. Robin wouldn't kick him out of the gang, would he? Where was he to go if he did? Would he go back to live with Lizbeth? Aidan turned possibilities over in his head for a while, becoming increasingly anxious. One morning, he was sitting outside, sharpening the points of his arrows, when Robin walked out of the forest and into camp. Djaq had decided Robin was well enough to go back to work again, but it was a slow day. Aidan and Robin were the only ones there, and Aidan focused intently on his task, nervously trying to ignore his father. Suddenly, Robin cleared his throat, and Aidan jumped slightly, realizing that his father was right next to him. 

"Get up. We're going for a walk." He said, his tone indecipherable. Aidan got up quickly, dropping the arrows in his haste.

"Grab your bow." He instructed, already turning to leave the camp. He strode away, leaving his son to scramble to collect the arrows and his bow. Aidan didn't know why they were going, and he was struck with the irrational fear that Robin would leave him in the middle of the forest somewhere. The thought was laughable, but he still took his largest hunting bow, in case he really was left to fend for himself. Aidan hurried out, and was only a few paces behind Robin as they walked in silence deeper into Sherwood Forest. They walked for over an hour at a relatively quick pace, in which Aidan was thinking of every possible reason Robin would have for taking him out there. He lost track of the turns they made, as he was so nervous by his father's silence. Suddenly, Robin stopped in his tracks. Aidan stopped too, dropping an arrow in response to the halting movement. Robin glanced at him as he picked up the arrow.

"You see the cloth on that tree?" he asked, pointing to a tree far off in the woods. Aidan had excellent vision, but the tree was so far away that he could only just make out the bright color of the cloth.

"Yes…" he squinted.

"Run there. Get the cloth. Run back." Aidan stared at his father. He seriously took him out here to train him? Robin turned and returned his son's look.

"What are you waiting for? Go." Aidan made to take off the heavy bow on his back, but Robin's hand clasped his wrist as he reached for it. 

"No. Keep your bow on. Run!" So Aidan ran to the tree, ignoring the pounding of the arrows against his back. He rebuked himself for taking the heavy bow. Of course Robin wasn't going to leave him. What a stupid idea. He could have taken his lighter, more efficient bow. He reached the tree, and realized he had to climb up partially to get the cloth. Aidan had always been rather agile; so it didn't take him long to climb up to retrieve it. He swung down from the tree and sprinted back to his father, slightly winded. 

"Okay. Now go put it back. On a higher branch this time." Aidan frowned. What exactly was the point of this exercise? But he knew better than to argue, as he turned and sprinted back. Robin kept him running back and forth, climbing up and down the tree for what felt like hours. Each time he returned with the cloth, his father stared at him, that same indecipherable look on his face. Each time Aidan saw his face; he watched to make sure Robin wasn't about to let him stop. Finally, as Aidan returned again with the cloth for the umpteenth time, completely out of breath, and feeling his legs tremble under him, Robin got up from where he had been leaning against a tree.

"Stop." Aidan did, of course, dropping the bow to the ground and gasping for breath. He rubbed his neck, where the strap of the pack had been chafing against him. He lowered himself to the ground, and Robin walked over to him quickly.

"Stand up." Aidan moaned, but got to his feet reluctantly. Robin began to pace around him. "You need to work on your speed. If you are ready to risk your life by getting jailed, I can only assume you are up for the challenge of being chased by soldiers whose intent is to kill you on a regular basis." Aidan tried to get his breathing back to normal, suddenly filled with an understanding of what his father was doing.

"If you are going to make stupid decisions, you must at least be able to defend yourself against enemies, and get away when you need to. I thought we could train you up to this level gradually, but judging by your actions, that does not work for you. So here." He reached behind him and pulled out an expertly crafted, dull wooden sword. Will had no doubt crafted it. "Prepare yourself." 

Aidan stared warily at the sword, still aching from his long run. He grabbed the smooth hilt and tried to remember everything he knew about sword fighting. He knew how to handle a sword, after spending years in the camp watching the gang practice with them. However, he wasn't nearly prepared for his father's first blow, which knocked him hard from the side on the arm. Jumping back a little, Aidan tried to focus on staying in the fight, defending himself from his father's advances desperately. He was able to hold him off for a moment, but he began to become cocky from the success. Robin noticed the change in attitude, and wielded his sword faster, causing Aidan to lose his concentration and turn away momentarily, trying to get a better footing on the leaf scattered forest floor. Robin took the easy hit, striking him in the back as he turned. Robin stopped. 

"That is your first issue. You NEVER turn your back to your opponent, got it?" Aidan groaned and nodded, trying his best to keep up with his father. Despite his efforts, after half an hour of sparring, Aidan could feel bruises emerging all over him. They kept at it, Aidan barely able to move his arms. Finally, when Aidan felt like death would be preferable to spending more time training with his father, Robin put his sword down, and stretched.

"Okay. We're done for the day." Aidan tried not to focus too much on the "for the day" part; he was in so much pain from the intense training session. Aidan looked around, suddenly feeling confident enough to ask,

"Why are we out so far? I barely even remember how we got here." Robin grinned.

"Exactly. Come here." Aidan made his way to the tree his father was once again leaning against. 

"Stand here. Face the tree. Don't turn around for sixty seconds. Understood?" Aidan frowned. What, were they playing hide and seek now? He nodded hesitantly. 

"Good. I want to hear you counting. Loudly, now. Start when I tell you to." Aidan turned to face the tree, and waited until he heard his father's voice, from much farther away now. "Start counting." 

Aidan sighed, and counted loudly to sixty, thinking the whole time about how much he was aching. When he reached sixty, he turned around to find his father gone. On the ground in front of him was a note that read: "Find your way home. Follow your instincts." Aidan stared grimly at the paper. Typical Robin. Why make it easy for him when he could seize yet another opportunity to challenge his son? Grumbling to himself, he squinted around, trying to figure out which direction they came in from. Of course, Robin had long since disappeared into the shadows of the trees. 

Aidan sighed, and began to walk in a direction that he was reasonably sure of. He knew the forest well, but he had been so nervous on the way there that he had lost track of the familiar landmarks and usual turns. Although he was pretty sure he knew what he was doing, Aidan knew that if he were wrong, he would wind up miles away from camp. He took the time to think about the training. He didn't expect it, but he wasn't exactly surprised at Robin's way of handling the situation. Aidan took a moment to rejoice in the fact that Robin did not know about Josalyn. Clearly, when he heard what his son had done, she wasn't of concern to his father. He thought about what would have happened if Robin had come in to rescue him from the dungeons, and had discovered Aidan's secret. He could only bask in his good fortune that Marian did not know about the family Josalyn belonged to.

After a while, he began to suspect he had gone in the wrong direction. He was about to turn around when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He made out a colored cloth tied to a tree branch to his right. Expelling every curse word he knew, Aidan wearily retrieved the cloth, his stiff muscles protesting to the strain of climbing, and saw there was writing on this, as well. It read, "Glad you have made it this far. Be home before dark. I mean it." Aidan scrunched up the cloth furiously. Why he couldn't he have a normal life, with a normal father, who would punish him normally? He glanced up at the sky, which was rapidly losing color. Aidan became increasingly familiar with his surroundings, and in a few minutes he knew exactly where he was. He also knew about how long it would take him to walk the two remaining miles home, so he reluctantly sped up again. 

Aidan reached the camp, stumbling over his feet in his effort to get to a place where he could lie down. He barely acknowledged the gang as he walked into the shelter. He gingerly took off his shirt, and collapsed on his bed, asleep instantly. 

Outside, Djaq looked on, concerned, at Aidan. She turned to Robin furiously. "You worked him too hard. You're going to kill him!" 

Robin raised his shoulders offhandedly, but when he saw how upset Djaq was, he grinned. 

"Would you relax? You really think I'm going to kill my own son? I'm teaching him a lesson, and yeah, it's tough on him now. But I know how hard I can push him." Watching Djaq's expression, he leaned forward intently. "Don't worry. I'll bring plenty of water, and I'll make sure he doesn't fall apart out there."

"So you do intent to train him like this again?"

"Of course. That has been the plan since he was eleven years old."

"Yes, but you were going to train him slowly. Get him to the level you want him to be at over time. But you are going from zero to…well...you, in an afternoon!"

Robin shrugged. "He's my son. He can take it. Besides, on the plus side, I don't think he will step a toe out of line for a long time." 

He laughed, and Djaq sighed, going inside to check up on Aidan. Robin was close on her heels; despite his strong words, he was a little concerned for his kid. Djaq surveyed the young man, who was sprawled out, breathing heavily, and took in the bruises on his chest and arms. Aidan was well built; he was not incredibly muscular, but he was lean and strong. He was by no means out of shape, but that training session was enough to make any member of the gang exhausted and weak, including Robin. She gently took his arm in her hand, inspecting the bruises. Allan stood next to the bed, laughing a little. 

"He is OUT." Allan noted, before he glanced up and saw Robin, who was scowling at him. 

"Go outside, Allan." Robin said firmly, and he automatically complied. Finally Djaq stood back. 

"Well?" Robin asked. "Is he okay?" Djaq scowled. 

"He's going to be incredibly sore tomorrow." 

"Right, but he's alive? No broken bones? Everything's still working?" Robin asked, in an almost taunting manner. Djaq stared him down, clearly annoyed, and waited until Robin looked away. 

"Yes. He's fine."

Robin nodded. "Trust me, Djaq. I know what I'm doing. He's tough, he can handle it." Djaq detected a hint of pride in his voice, and she did her best not to roll her eyes at him. Men could be so insufferable. More to the point, _Robin_ could be so insufferable. 


	13. Chapter 13

When Aidan woke up the next morning, he felt surprisingly refreshed. He had slept soundly for some reason, although he was usually a light sleeper. He made to stand up, and instantly realized the reason behind this. Cringing as he remembered he was covered in bruises, he swore under his breath, and got up to bathe in the river. He figured the cool water would soothe his injury-speckled body. As he carefully stepped out into the bright camp, he realized that the entire gang, excluding Robin, was sitting down outside eating breakfast, staring intently at him. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he frowned at them.

"What?!" he snapped groggily, after a minute.

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine!" Allan said in a singsong voice, earning him a disapproving stare from Djaq and a dark glance from Aidan. He stalked off towards the river, cursing his sore muscles. Aidan was by no means out of shape; he enjoyed running and was incredibly fast. But Robin had worked him so hard that Aidan no longer found any joy in the prospect of moving at a pace faster than a walk. He washed quickly, and walked back to the camp, hoping they wouldn't be standing around watching him again. The gang hadn't moved, but Robin walked into camp, staring at his son with an expression of mixed amusement and satisfaction.

"How are you feeling?" he asked cheerily.

"Wonderful," Aidan muttered, sitting down on a rock. Robin nodded.

"Well that's good, because after dinner today we're going to train again. Might want to stretch first." Aidan stared after him, mouth agape. He didn't think he could take another torturous day of training. However, it wasn't as if Robin had presented him with an option, so he decided to at least make some good of his day. He cleared his throat.

"Sir." Robin turned, still amused. He knew Aidan wouldn't call him sir unless he was asking for something.

" I was wondering if I could take a walk this morning. Clear my head and all…I won't leave the forest," he finished quickly.

There was a long pause. "You've got that right…be back before midday." Robin responded, narrowing his eyes. He wasn't quite comfortable with Aidan leaving his sight yet, but he figured that in the few hours he was allowing him, especially with his undoubtedly sore body, he wouldn't get into trouble. Aidan was a bit surprised; that was easy. But when he thought about how much worse the day was going to get, he got up and began to walk out of camp, anxious to have a good morning. Robin called after him one last time.

"Don't go near the edge of the forest." Aidan turned to nod; he had no intention of going anywhere close to the edge. He walked instinctively to the stream he and Josalyn had walked along that first day…and just as he had thought; Josalyn was sitting on the bank, skipping rocks along the surface of the water. The sun reflected off her long hair, and her skin seemed to glow in the light. She looked absolutely stunning, curled up with her feet beneath her, leaning over the bank to watch the river flow by, humming sweetly. When she heard him coming, she whirled around quickly. He could make out the relief and happiness beyond her look of anger. She turned back to face the water.

"Aidan." She said coolly. He grinned. He felt bad, but it was so fun to make her upset.

"Hey Josalyn," he said quietly. "I missed you." Her features noticeably softened, although she didn't turn around.

"And I am so sorry that I got you arrested. Honestly, if I knew the guards were so on top of things, I would have come up with some way for you to get away before they noticed."

Josalyn laughed coldly. "Don't you mean you wouldn't have stolen the horses in the first place?" Aidan thought about this.

"No. I probably still would have stolen them. But I would have made SURE you didn't get arrested." Josalyn turned around then, confused.

"But you still would have been arrested." He shrugged.

"Better me than you. I can always talk my way out of tough spots. I would rather not have gotten you involved, though." She stared at him, her stony exterior melting as her eyes slowly made their way to his purple and black arms. She leapt to her feet, and Aidan tried unsuccessfully to step back into the shadow of an overhanging tree so she wouldn't see. But she grabbed his arm and tugged him into the light, gently turning his arm over in her delicate hands, her bright eyes growing wide and full of concern.

"What happened?" she whispered. Aidan laughed, and hurriedly pulled his arm from her grasp, taking her hands in his.

"You don't need to sound so worried. I'm fine." But Josalyn was now looking at his other arm.

"Aidan, where else are you hurt?!" He grimaced.

"Josalyn, seriously, stop worrying about me. I hardly expected to get out of this experience without a scratch."

She pressed her lips together and asked again, "What happened?!"

So he took a deep breath, and gently pulled them back to the bank, sitting himself down as comfortably as he could, with Josalyn close to him. He proceeded to tell her what had happened when he got home. He ended the story with a sigh, as he relayed the news that he had to go back to train soon. Josalyn was quiet for a moment.

Finally, she asked, "how long do you think he's going to continue this? With the ridiculously hard training and all?" Aidan had been trying not to think about that question, but he turned the thought around in his mind a bit.

"I don't know." He answered truthfully. "Maybe he never will." Josalyn frowned.

"Well…what I mean to say is that now I'm getting ready to work with my father. Pretty soon I'll be working alongside him…he just needs to get me to that level. Which means that I need to learn his strategies, go along on raids…but first I have to be able to do what he does…physically. I need to be able to get away from danger quickly. I need to think on my feet. Ideally, what he had me do yesterday was the level I should be at when I go with him." He laughed flatly. "Clearly, I'm not ready yet. Which he knew, naturally. He's clever. I mean, this was exactly what I wanted…to be a part of the gang…I just expected to build up to that level gradually. And, of course, the training doubles as a punishment for disobeying him and worrying them half to death." Aidan shook his head, tossing a stone roughly in the water. "I hate it when he's right."

Josalyn put a hand on his back, gently massaging it with her slender fingers. He closed his eyes, absorbing the comfort and happiness. They sat together for a while, enjoying each other's company. When he looked up, Josalyn was staring at him, smiling out of the corner of her mouth the way she had the first time he met her. He put a hand up and traced her face with his finger, and she leaned forward. He kissed her passionately, marveling in how perfect she was. Eventually she broke away from him. "You're going to be late," she said softly. Realizing with a jolt that he had been sitting with her for far longer than he thought he had, he jumped to his feet.

"Will I see you again soon?" she asked, biting her lip. He laughed.

"Josalyn, I'm afraid if I don't see you, I'll go crazy. I might have to storm into your village and demand your presence." She laughed at his grandeur, but then reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Don't do anything reckless. I mean it, Aidan. I don't want you getting hurt." He smiled at her concern.

"I was kidding about storming your village. I may be reckless, but I'm not suicidal." He flashed a grin at her, bent down to kiss her quickly, and ran off, leaving Josalyn sitting by the water alone. She was still worried about him. What if he got hurt? She wasn't sure she liked the idea of Aidan joining Robin Hood. She knew how dangerous it would be for him. Of course, she had known it would happen…he was Robin's son, after all. Josalyn sighed after him, and decided to go visit the horses. It was a good place to think without wasting an entire day doing nothing. She walked down to the stables, eager to be alone with her thoughts and the horses, and was surprised to find Marian inside; she was gently brushing her horse with care, whispering to it to keep the animal calm. Josalyn stepped back as she realized whom she was in the presence of. Marian started, turning to see the girl that had been in jail with her son.

She faced the girl, smiling a little at her. "Hello." She said, and the girl quickly curtseyed, anxiously walking forward to where Marian stood, brush still in hand.

"Your horse is incredible. She's so…gentle." She said timidly, looking with admiration at the sleek creature. Marian nodded.

"Yes, but she is strong." Josalyn nodded.

"She definitely has the most personality." Marian dropped her hand from the horse's flank, and walked closer to Josalyn. She assessed the girl shrewdly. Aidan had already told her the family secret, and she felt that the girl could be trusted. She certainly seemed trustworthy.

"So you are the girl my son has fallen for," she said quietly. Josalyn blushed and looked at the ground, scuffing the toe of her shoe on the dirt. "Are you sure you want to be with such a reckless person?" She asked lightly, although Josalyn took in the serious undertones of the question.

"He's not reckless all the time….he's…caring. Much like you in that aspect, milady." Josalyn said, thinking critically about Aidan. That was true- he might be rough around the edges, but just as Marian loved to care for people, Aidan honestly cared about the general population. Marian smiled and shook her head.

"To be honest, I see a lot more of his father in him." Josalyn laughed. She plucked up her courage, and asked a question that had been gnawing at her for a while.

"Does he…I mean Robin…does he ever…well…frighten you?' Josalyn asked, stumbling over her words. Marian stared at the girl for a long moment. She could tell her about Robin.

"Yes." She said finally. "Too much. But I know that what he's doing helps so many…it's worth my worry. Why…does my son worry you?"

Josalyn nodded fervently. " When we got arrested, he just seemed so in control. Of himself, I mean…he was afraid because I was there. He was concerned more for me than himself. That frightens me." Marian smiled sadly.

"I understand. And I wish I could tell you it got easier. I'm afraid it won't. If Aidan turns out anything like his father, I believe he will always stand up for what he believes in, put himself in danger, no matter what the consequences." Josalyn sighed.

"He is a good person. He may make rash decisions, but he is a good person. I truly care for him…" Marian nodded.

"It shows. I believe Aidan has excellent taste. I think you will be good for him. Perhaps steer him away from …rash decisions." Josalyn noticed that Marian had basically approved her for Aidan, and she felt a surge of happiness. Still, she couldn't help but ask one last question.

"What if…well what if he decides to do something incredibly dangerous and stupid? How do I make him listen to me?" Marian rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"With the men in this family…it's hard to make them listen to anything. I'm afraid you will have to discover for yourself how best to handle him." Josalyn nodded. Marian's expression turned serious then.

"Ultimately you have to decide…is being with my son worth the constant worry you will have to go through? Is it worth the danger you must put yourself in to be involved with him? Really think about this. You're decision might end up affecting more people than yourself."

Josalyn nodded slowly. She began to think seriously about Aidan. She thought back to how horrible she had felt in the jail cell, worrying about her fate and that of Aidan. Was it worth the pain and the fear? Was it worth lying to her family about her whereabouts? Was it worth it?

**The Next Morning**

Aidan splashed water over his face, his muscles protesting to the motion. He winced as he stood. The second training session had been even more difficult to endure than the first. Aidan knew that once his muscles had time to adjust to the rigorous training, it wouldn't be nearly as painful, but he had to wonder how long that would take. He stretched, and focused his attention solely on seeing Josalyn later on. He ate quickly and rushed to the clearing they met in. He didn't expect her for a while, he had come much too early. He was about to sit down when there was a flurry of motion from the opposite side of the clearing. Josalyn ran forward, her hair flying about her head, and leapt at him. He caught her in his arms and waited as she buried her head into the crook of his neck. After a moment, she loosened her firm grip around him and pulled away. She was smiling, but there was a pained look from beyond her eyes.

"It's worth it." She said quietly.

"What did you say?" Aidan asked, utterly bewildered by her actions.

She took a deep breath. "I don't like worrying." She said finally.

He narrowed his eyes. "Okay…", he said slowly.

"So I found a solution. I won't worry about you nearly as much if…if I help you." She smiled anxiously, watching his expression change from confusion to frustration.

"Josalyn, be serious. Help Robin Hood? Help us fight the sheriff?"

She nodded.

"Josalyn, no. Never. It's far too dangerous. Besides, how could you possibly do that, with your family?"

She bristled. This was not the way this was supposed to go. "Look, whether or not you realize it, I am fully capable of taking care of myself. I think I can handle helping you. And as for my family…well…its not like I'm joining the gang. I just want to…offer assistance. Any way I can. They don't have to know."

Aidan shook his head. "No. I would never forgive myself for putting you in harm's way again. I think y-" he paused, and his eyes snapped up to the outer rim of the clearing. He saw a flash of color from amidst the trees. Instinctively, he pulled Josalyn back behind him, in case whoever it was posed any sort of danger to her. The figure stepped forward cautiously, and Josalyn gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.

"Caleb."


	14. Chapter 14

**First of all, thank you for the reviews. It's encouraging to hear from you! Oh, and as DeanParker was wondering, Caleb is Josalyn's older brother, who is trying to replace her cousin who died. (I know I wrote that wrong when I responded to you, DeanParker. My apologies!) Sorry for any confusion!**

Caleb's face was stony as he walked forward warily. Suddenly, it was unbelievably tense in the clearing Josalyn had come to think of as a safe haven. The two young men that Josalyn cared about most were facing off, preparing themselves as if to fight. Aidan's muscles tensed, and he became almost frightening in appearance. The look of anger on his face could only be matched by Caleb's expression, which was instantly on edge. Aidan turned slightly to the right, and Caleb mirrored the adjustment. Caleb stepped forward.

"What the hell are you doing here?," he growled quietly. "Got lost again, I suppose?" His lips curled in a sneer, and Josalyn shivered a little. She hated seeing her brother this upset. In fact, she could barely remember the last time he was so mad. Aidan was not intimidated. On the contrary, he strode forward so that he was face to face with Caleb.

"Actually, Josalyn and I were in the middle of a rather private conversation. So, if you don't mind," he motioned towards the edge of the clearing. It was incredible how calm and eerily polite his voice sounded. Of course, Josalyn could hear the icy threat cutting just below the surface of his suggestion.

"A private conversation, huh? Interesting. I'm almost positive I heard the name Robin Hood being used." His eyes flashed to Josalyn's, and she looked at the ground, biting her lip.

"It might have been," Aidan replied coolly, still retaining the deadly calm aura. Watching as Caleb's face visibly darkened, Aidan cocked his head to the side.

"Problem?" Caleb was not quite as good at maintaining a calm stance, and his voice shook a little in anger as he responded.

"No, no problem. I am a little confused, though. See, Josalyn and I make it a point not to associate with filth like Hood and his pathetic gang." Aidan lunged for Caleb, and the two were rolling on the ground in a moment. Caleb managed to take a swing at Aidan's face before Aidan pinned him to the ground. Josalyn screamed out in frustration, rushing over to pull them apart, but before she had the chance, another voice joined the fray.

"AIDAN HOOD. GET UP. NOW!" Aidan was on his feet in an instant, standing stock still, as if he hadn't been wrestling on the forest floor a moment before. Caleb was left lying on the ground, bewildered by the sudden change in atmosphere. Aidan turned around swiftly, and a man rushed into the clearing, his clear blue eyes ablaze with anger. To Josalyn's surprise, Aidan relaxed his posture.

"Oh, Allan. It's just you. You sounded like my father for a moment." He laughed a little, but the look on Allan's face sobered him, and he looked down at the ground quickly, the smile falling with his gaze. Allan looked around at the girl he recognized, and the strange boy. He locked eyes with Josalyn, and shook his head in frustration.

"Aidan." He said coldly, and Aidan seemed to know what he was supposed to do. Reluctantly, Aidan reached out a hand to help Caleb up.

"I'm sorry for starting that fight. I should have controlled my temper." He said hollowly, with no emotion behind the words. Josalyn noted that it sounded like something he had memorized, a phrase that he had used more than once before. The words were empty and forced, and Josalyn wondered just how often he had to say them. She focused her attention on the situation in front of her again; Caleb stared at the hand offered and got up on his own, brushing the help away with disdain. Aidan retracted his hand and glanced nervously to Allan A Dale. He nodded, and without a word turned and began to walk away. Aidan sighed. He had to follow, of course. With an apologetic glance back at Josalyn, he hurried to keep up with Allan as he left the clearing. Josalyn looked at Caleb warily. Caleb was still in shock from coming face to face with an actual member of Robin Hood's gang. To be honest, she was surprised he hadn't tried to attack Allan. Then again, Caleb's resistance against the outlaws up to this point was all talk; he had never been involved in the schemes to take down Hood and his gang. Perhaps…perhaps deep down, Caleb didn't really feel the way his father did. Josalyn had to talk through this with him. She cleared her throat, and glanced up at Caleb.

"Look…" She began, pausing in case he interrupted her. He stayed silent.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this. Aidan and I have been seeing each other for a while now…and yes; he is part of Hood's gang. But Caleb, honestly, look at the facts. Robin Hood and his gang are our only hope against the Sheriff. They are the ONLY one's actually doing something about the poor, and the hungry. The people the sheriff ignores." Caleb looked in anguish at his sister.

"No." He whispered quietly. "No…they are the enemy. They provoke the sheriff. They are the REASON the sheriff is so harsh."

Josalyn shook her head violently. "No! Caleb, think for yourself! Do you really believe that, or is that Father talking?!" She realized she was practically yelling at him now. "Well?! Do you?"

Caleb looked shocked. No one had ever asked him that before. It was never a matter of what his beliefs were; his beliefs mirrored his father's. They always had. They had to…that was expected of him: to follow in his father's footsteps. Josalyn lowered her voice a little, speaking more gently now that she had his attention.

"They are not the reason for our suffering. Please believe that I would never associate with Aidan if he was endangering or harming our family in any way. I wouldn't do that. But Caleb…oh Caleb, please understand. They could take down the sheriff. They could bring back prosperity to Nottingham…" Her face was shining with earnest, and Caleb stared at her incredulously. She was so passionate about this. Could he really doubt her sincerity? But his upbringing…everything he had been taught screamed against Josalyn's theories. But if Josalyn could go against their father, why couldn't he? But did he want to? He took a deep breath, trying to organize his thoughts, and looked out into the woods.

"We had better get home," he said abruptly, and without another word, left the clearing. Josalyn swallowed, caught up with the emotion of the subject she was so invested in. In Aidan.

They walked home in silence, but when they reached their village, Josalyn was surprised by the amount of activity that awaited them. Townspeople were gathered in clumps around the streets, whispering together excitedly. Josalyn and Caleb scanned the crowd for their parents, and finally saw their father, Fredrick Ardel, giving a speech in front of a large majority of the town. He was yelling about something with vigor. Caleb gave Josalyn a glance, and then rushed to join his father. Josalyn tried to gather information from the villagers, and eventually the story became clear. Someone in their town had come across a storage area of Robin Hood. Inside, they found baskets of gold, no doubt stolen underneath the nose of the Sheriff. Her father was apparently gathering a group of men from the village to retrieve the gold. Their grand plan was to take the gold to the sheriff, and hope for his blessing and favor. The knowledge that _their_ village had foiled the great Robin Hood would certainly put them in good favor with Gisbourne and the Sheriff, according to Fredrick Ardel. They were also taking weapons, in case anyone from the gang decided to come stop them. Josalyn looked up in time to see Caleb murmuring quietly to their father. His head snapped up as he focused on his daughter, and Josalyn's heart plummeted. Had Caleb honestly just told her secret?! Mr. Ardel came forward swiftly.

"Caleb has just brought it to my attention that he's seen outlaws dangerously near the boundaries of our village. He thinks, and I completely agree, that you should stay in the village for now. At least until we complete our plan. Is that clear?" His stance was determined, but his eyes were flitting about excitedly. He was positive that the gold would bring their suffering to an end.

Josalyn frowned; she hadn't expected that. She caught Caleb's eye and nodded a little. So he wasn't going to give her away, but he was going to make sure she couldn't see Aidan. At least for a while. She could accept that. She decided that it would be best not to argue with her father at that moment about the gold; he was so intent on his goal that he wouldn't listen.

**Sherwood Forest **

"Allan, slow down! Do you have to run?!" Allan stopped so suddenly from his brisk pace that Aidan ran into him. Allan raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked sharply.

"Look, I'm sorry I got in a fight with him, but could you listen? It wasn't my fault…he was going to fight me anyway. It didn't matter who started it." Allan shook his head.

"That's not what's important. You lied to us, Aidan! You are still seeing that girl. You are still putting the rest of the gang in danger! Honestly, don't you get it? You saw what happened after I betrayed the gang. And then you turn around and do something like this?!" Aidan sucked in his breath. He remembered full well when Allan had betrayed the gang. He was gone for a few months, but Aidan had kept in touch with him, meeting him on the off chance he was allowed out of the forest. He understood that Allan was desperate, and helped persuade his father to let him have a second chance. Of course, Allan also executed a brilliant plan to get Djaq and Little John out of jail when they had been arrested. That had ultimately sealed his renewed membership to the gang. It had taken a while; Allan had to be the worst servant ever to Gisbourne so that when he finally left, Gisbourne and the Sheriff were so fed up with him that they allowed him to get away. They were under the impression that he was far away by now, "plaguing another town with his presence", as the sheriff had put it. Allan now had to be more careful than Aidan did about showing himself near the castle. Aidan shook his head of the painful memories of the betrayal.

"Allan, you can hardly compare the two! You left for money, and I…I'm not leaving! And I'm not betraying the gang, and it's for," he paused and took a deep breath. "It's for love," he ended quietly.

Allan stared at him. "For love." He repeated. Aidan pursed his lips and straightened up to compose himself.

"Yes. I love her. And I want to be with her, no matter what. She isn't like the rest of her family- she supports Robin."

Allan sighed, and seemed to deliberate for a moment. He shook his head. "No. No…Aidan, Robin deserves to know about this. We gave you a chance to end it, but if you still want to be with her, then your father has to know."

Aidan gulped, and quickly put himself between Allan and the camp. "Allan, you can't. You can't tell my father about this. Come on…if there was a woman that you loved, but she wasn't accepted by the people you love…someone out of the ordinary… would you give up on her?"

Allan stared at Aidan's earnest face for a moment, and Aidan had to wonder if Allan had ever actually been in love. He generally considered finding women a game- who would be charmed by him, and who would know better. Aidan waited with bated breath, and then Allan pushed past him into the camp. Robin walked out and saw the two of them approaching. He took in Aidan's disheveled appearance at a glance.

"What happened to you?" Aidan looked at his feet, and waited for Allan to rat him out.

"He got in a fight," Allan began, and Robin crossed his arms across his chest. "With a boy in the forest. The lad was just traveling through, and apparently he made a smart comment, because Aidan couldn't control his temper." Allan concluded, sounding for all the world like this was the truth. Aidan frowned at the ground, genuinely surprised, but not wanting to betray the beautiful lie by acting it. Robin walked over to his son. He grabbed his chin and forced his face up to be level with him, and surveyed the damage the other boy had inflicted on Aidan. After a moment, he seemed satisfied that his son was not severely injured, and he dropped his hand and scowled.

"You started a fight? Because of some comment? I raised you better than that, Aidan. Honestly, have you learned nothing about justice?!" Aidan sighed, although he was pretty happy with the way things turned out. "In any case, Allan, we have to go. Djaq saw there was some disturbance on the Northern edge of the forest. It might be near one of our setups, so we should check on it. Aidan, you stay in camp. I would have taken you along, but I don't know if I can trust you to keep your emotions in check anymore." Robin shrugged past him, and the rest of the gang hurried behind him, until Allan and Aidan were left in the camp.

Aidan smiled. "Thanks for doing that, Allan, really…"

Allan scowled. "Honestly, Aidan. Keep your anger in check." He said with mock seriousness, and then he flashed a grin before running after the gang.

Aidan waited a good three minutes before he became fed up with waiting around in the camp. He wanted to know how Caleb had reacted; if he had told their father or not. He took off running, not fully sure what he was going to do when he reached Josalyn's village. Little did he know that at that moment, Robin and his gang were moving straight towards Fredrick Ardel and the majority of the village men, and both sides were armed.

**A/N: Right…so I need your opinion. I had originally planned to end the story after the Ardel family and Robin's gang faced off. However, I've been toying with the idea of really finishing it off…with Gisbourne and the Sheriff finding out about Aidan's existence and all that jazz. That would make this considerably longer…so I need to know if you guys like Aidan's story. Do you like his character, or are you getting tired of it, or should I start a new story? I guess I could do both…okay I'm starting to babble. What I'm asking is, do you want me to continue this for a while?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Well first off, I want to thank everyone who reviewed that last chapter. Many thanks especially to Keiri Bradon, who basically ensured the continuation of this story. And I'm sorry for the long time between updates. I had to rewrite this four times before I liked it enough to post. So without further ado…**

Aidan ran quickly through the forest, taking every short cut he knew to Josalyn's home. He stopped short when he reached the edge of the trees. He stood, unsure of the best way to enter. He could hardly walk in, for fear of Caleb spotting him. He walked along the forest, watching the houses he passed. He finally reached a small home with a thatched roof. It had a window in the back, and Aidan's heart leapt as he saw Josalyn moving around inside. Quietly, he snuck up behind the house and cautiously peeked in the window. Josalyn was alone inside, which was good. However, she looked distraught, and Aidan's concern was sparked again. He waited until Josalyn's back was turned, and then hoisted himself onto the window ledge. He perched there, watching with curiosity as she looked out of the front door anxiously. There were two windows in the front of the house, one on either side of the door, as well. She was holding a bag in one hand, and she hurriedly opened and looked through it, as if checking for something. She pulled her head back into the house with impatience, and glanced through each of the windows, completely absorbed by this task. Aidan grinned.

"Well hello there, young miss."

Josalyn led out a sort of strangled scream, and dropped the bag she was holding. Aidan hopped off the sill and reached to pick it up.

"Bit jumpy there, aren't you? Have no fear, miss; I will do you no harm. I came to warn you, there are some questionable characters roaming these woods! Outlaws, even!"

He stood up with the bag and cocked his head to the side, smiling impishly at her. Josalyn's expression of fear dropped for a second as her eyes lit up with surprise and amusement. She kissed him quickly, and then gasped, turning to the windows.

"Get down!" she ordered, waving her hand at him. Aidan obediently dropped to the ground, watching her frantically pace the room. She carefully opened the door again, chewing on her bottom lip, looked around, and let out a sigh of relief. Closing the door quietly behind her, she turned back to Aidan, who was now glancing at the bag he had picked up.

"What is this? Clothes, a blanket, coins…Josalyn, where were you going?" He furrowed his brow and held the bag up to her. She snatched it from him, striding purposely over to the window.

"Yes, well…I was leaving home," She responded matter of factly. Aidan stood warily, pursing his lips and eyeing her critically.

"Leaving where?" Josalyn pulled herself onto the sill, as Aidan had been a moment before, and hastily looked back and shrugged.

"To the forest with you, obviously." She said impatiently. "So it's good you came. I was going to have to find the camp myself! Come, we need to leave now, before my mother returns." Aidan shook his head with conviction, walking over to her and grabbing her hand before she had time to slip out the window.

"Josalyn, just slow down a minute. What are you talking about? You can't leave your family!"

Josalyn turned back to him. "I left them a note." She said, nodding over to a table inside the house. Aidan rolled his eyes.

"A note? Saying what? I'm joining your archenemy Robin Hood, have a nice life?"

Josalyn sighed impatiently, and began to speak very quickly. "No, of course not. I told them I am going to visit my cousin Arabella; that I felt the need to be with her as soon as possible. She lives in the village of Rochner, which is miles away from here. Arabella is pregnant, and she sent word last week saying it would be nice having help around the house while her husband is gone during the day. I would be with them for a month or two. My father knew it was only a matter of time before I left, although he had thought it would be next week. In any case, he won't come looking for me. That will give me enough time to establish myself in the gang, and I could tell my parents the truth in time. My father would let me go then…he would consider it such a dishonor to his name that he wouldn't want me to come home anyway. Besides, and this is the reason I am leaving…they are stealing from Robin! As we speak! They found one of his storage areas, and they are planning to take their findings to the Sheriff! This is not right, and I will not stay here while they make everyone's lives worse! They are stealing from the poor, the sick, and that is not the life I choose to live. I don't care if it is my father."

On that note, she twisted her hand out of Aidan's and slid out the window. She turned back to him outside, her expression a mixture of defiance and doggedness.

"Well, come on! We need to go warn Robin!" Aidan decided that, for the moment, it was best not to argue with her. She had a steely look in her eye that he couldn't find the will to counter, at the moment. He happened to love her plan, and was thrilled that she would come to stay with them. However, he also knew that thought was selfish; she should not give up her life with her family for life in the woods, despite their actions against his father. Aidan jumped out after her, grabbed her hand, and began to hightail it into the forest. As he ran, he began to realize the gravity of the situation.

"We can't warn Robin," he said hollowly, a bit out of breath.

"What?!"

"They are already on their way there…Robin heard news of a disturbance…" Aidan began to panic as he ran faster, pulling Josalyn behind him. She kept up pretty well, considering how well trained he was. Aidan took the shortest path he could to the area, and they finally slowed, breathing heavily. They turned past a particularly thick patch of trees, and Aidan halted suddenly. He put himself in front of Josalyn as he stared at the scene before them. There, in front of and on either side of the couple, were Robin's gang and Josalyn's entire village, squaring off against each other. They were still and quiet, for the most part, although Robin was standing slightly detached from the gang, watching Mr. Ardel. There was a bag of coins in front of Josalyn's father, and it looked as though they had just come across each other, because everyone's eyes were cautiously on Robin and Mr. Ardel. No one noticed Aidan and Josalyn's arrival at first. Aidan glanced quickly between his father and Josalyn's, sizing up the situation as best he could. Robin then broke the silence so suddenly that Aidan heard Josalyn's sharp intake of breath behind him.

"Put your bows down. _We_ will not resort to petty violence for this. Put your bows down!" He was speaking to the villagers, although the gang also relaxed their grip on their weapons. Mr. Ardel took a step forward.

"You…" he hissed malevolently. "You, thieves. You have no right to order my men to do anything, you murderer." He stressed the last word, and Allan reached forward instinctively to grab Robin's arm. Robin indeed looked like that statement had set him over the edge, but he didn't move forward. He stiffened, and shook his head in disgust.

"Murderer?" He said quietly. "Murderer?! How dare you call me a murderer, when you yourself are causing entire villages to go hungry! I do not cause the death's of innocent people!"

"And we do not kill." Little John growled from behind him. The rest of the gang silently backed him up, angling themselves in such a way that they looked united. Frederick scoffed.

"What, by taking this money? By taking it to its rightful owner, the Sheriff? You may find yourself above the law, but we-"

"RIGHTFUL owner?! That money belongs in the hands of the people. Are you honestly slow enough to believe that in the hands of the Sheriff, the PEOPLE would receive this money?" He asked incredulously, staring at the man as if he were insane.

"The SHERIFF is the law."

"No. The SHERIFF is a corrupt, malicious man who cares for himself and himself only. If you haven't realized that yet, then it is not a wonder that you are daft enough to steal from me." Mr. Ardel shook his head, his eyes alight with rage.

"Your time is over, Hood. Don't you see that if you just stopped your ridiculous battles against the Sheriff, he would stop harming our villages?" At that point, Aidan moved forward, still keeping Josalyn behind him.

"You cannot honestly believe that." He said scathingly. He felt like screaming at this man; how could he possibly be thick enough to believe that rubbish?! Everyone turned to stare at Aidan. The villagers raised their bows again, focusing on Aidan, until Mr. Ardel raised a hand quickly.

"Put your bows down! Put them down, I tell you! My daughter is with…the outlaw," he finished, staring at Aidan with an expression of pure loathing. Aidan scowled at the man, trying his best not to glance in the direction of Robin. Mr. Ardel took a step forward towards Aidan, and Robin copied suit, watching warily for the man's next move.

"This is one of your men?" Ardel spat, tearing his furious expression away from Aidan and onto Robin. Robin finally met Aidan's eyes, and he gave him a quick, disapproving glance.

"He used to be," Robin responded tersely. Aidan sighed. He had known Robin was going to be angry with him from the beginning, but he could only hope that he would at least wait until a more convenient time to yell at him. Aidan pulled Josalyn closer to him, and she clasped his hand fiercely. This was the last straw for Mr. Ardel, who pulled out his bow in a flash, and pointed it square at Aidan's chest. Robin's bow was out before anyone quite knew what was happening.

"Unhand my daughter!" Mr. Ardel growled menacingly.

"Drop your bow!" Robin ordered, a trace of panic in his eyes. Josalyn shook her head.

"Father, put your bow down! I am choosing to be at Aidan's side. I choose to help the poor, to fight the Sheriff." She took a step away from Aidan and toward the gang, still holding his hand tightly. "This is where I belong…in the forest with Robin Hood. I know you feel that Hood is the enemy, but you must open your eyes! Can't you see that Robin is our only hope; is the only hope of Nottingham?!"

Mr. Ardel was staring at his daughter like he wasn't quite sure who she was. He lowered his bow slightly, still watching her warily. Josalyn took another step towards the gang, and Aidan began to follow. However, the second he moved, Mr. Ardel's bow was in the air again.

"Aidan, stay where you are." Robin said sharply. Aidan nodded a little, watching between his father and Mr. Ardel, waiting. Josalyn glanced at Aidan, her face a mixture of fear and compassion for him, but he squeezed her hand once more and then let go, allowing her to continue to walk towards the gang. The next events happened in a flash; it wasn't evident what happened at first.

Josalyn boldly reached out a hand to shake with the nearest gang member to her, who happened to be Allan. Allan, who was holding his bow, shifted the weapon to his left hand so he could shake hers, but one of the villagers seemed to misinterpret this movement as Allan preparing to shoot her, and an arrow flew through the air. Allan had extended his arm, and the arrow flew past him. At that moment, everyone looked beyond the two, frozen, about to shake hands, but the arrow wasn't on the ground. For a second, no one spoke. No one made a sound. And that's when Josalyn fell.

In the chaos that ensued, as Aidan rushed forward, despite the arrow pointed straight at him, only one person remained still. Josalyn had been shot in the side, and she was on the ground now. Aidan cradled her head in his hands and screamed for Djaq, and Djaq instantly rushed forward to assist the girl. Little John spread his arms out and ordered the crowd of villagers now assembled around the girl to step back and give Djaq room. Mr. Ardel was screaming for Djaq to step away from his daughter, Robin was attempting to stop him from taking away the girl's chance for survival. Allan was struggling with a villager, who was convinced that Allan had shot Josalyn. Will tried to break up their struggle. But one villager stayed still, his bow frozen in the air, his body tense. His eyes were huge and he felt completely numb, as he began to register what he had just done. He had just shot her… shot Josalyn. Caleb had just shot his sister.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Sorry sorry sorry for the long time interval. School is terrible. Apparently, they don't take into consideration the fact that some of us would rather be writing than studying. And they dare assign us the same coursework as everyone else! (The audacity!) And I was struck by writer's block. Not a great combination.**

It was as if time had stopped. Aidan felt overwhelmed as hundreds of thoughts bubbled into his mind, each fighting for top priority. Djaq had gently loosened his grip on Josalyn, convincing him that the best thing he could do was stay out of the way, and Will steered him around, so he was facing one villager in particular. Aidan saw the bow still in Caleb's hand, and everything clicked into place. Slowly, Aidan registered the look of blind panic on Caleb's face, and stared in the direction of the bow, right back at Josalyn. By the time Aidan regained control of his thoughts, his fists were clenched, and he took a step forward. His fury could not be swallowed or contained; he was going to kill Caleb for what he had done. Caleb didn't look surprised at Aidan's murderous expression; he rather looked like he would like to die. He stayed rooted to the spot, miserably watching Aidan's realization.

Aidan ran forward, still with the confusing thought that time had stopped, and focused only on reaching Caleb and inflicting pain. The only sound he registered was his own heartbeat pounding rapidly. As everyone else seemed to pause in motion, he was running forward, but his feet were numb, and he stumbled. He would have tried to control how angry he was, because he knew it was good to have a cool head while fighting, if he could think anything but "_Caleb hurt Josalyn_." He had gotten about halfway across the clearing when he felt something block his progress suddenly. Winded, he first looked down, as if there was some tree or bush that had sprung to life and planted itself in his way, preventing him from murdering Josalyn's brother. He saw arms wrapped tightly around his middle, and was suddenly acutely aware of the shouts, above the chaos of the situation. He was vaguely conscious of the fact that the yelling was directed at him, but he wasn't paying attention, his thoughts still focused on Caleb. Of course he knew who was holding him back, and while the voice alone would normally be enough to subdue him, Aidan found himself fighting against his father's grip. He struggled, trying unsuccessfully to twist his way out of the arms that held him firmly in place; he heard Robin take a sharp intake of breath as he wildly elbowed him in the chest.

Robin wrenched his son out of the path towards Caleb, turning him forcefully into the forest. The sight of Caleb's pained, guilty expression was enough to keep him shaking with fury. Robin released him for a second, which was enough time for Aidan to try to make an escape. He turned, searching for Caleb, but his father's arms were then clenched on his shoulders, pushing him roughly away from the boy and into the trees, effectively blocking his view. As soon as they were a distance away, Robin took his hands off of Aidan's shoulders. Aidan whirled around, as if about to run back again, but Robin put a hand up to stop him.

"You take one step and I will tie you to that tree," he said, his voice low and dangerous, nodding towards a tree on his left. "You will not attack him. Yes, I know what he did, but it was clearly an accident, and _you_ will not stoop to pointless fighting. You will not harm that boy in any way, shape, or form. Is that clear?" he asked sharply, watching his son's expression. Aidan scowled defiantly, wondering if Robin would indeed tie him up if he tried anything. His eyes flickered between the edge of the forest and his father, as if measuring how far he could get before he was caught. Robin noticed this, and sighed impatiently.

"You think I'm joking? Don't even consider it."

Aidan realized there was no way he could win, so he slumped his shoulders and nodded. He understood that his father was waiting for him to lose the single-minded glint of fury in his eyes, and he forced himself to change his expression.

"Okay. Okay, I'm calm. Can I go back now?" He asked, looking up with a would-be indifferent expression. Robin narrowed his eyes.

"To check on Josalyn!" he blurted, waving in the direction of the commotion. He only now remembered his precious Josalyn, and was struck with a pang of fear; what if something had happened in the moments he had been away from her?! He instinctively craned his neck over his father's shoulder, but he couldn't see Josalyn. Robin kept staring at his son, and Aidan abruptly remembered that his father was probably upset with him. After all, he had lied to him about where he had been recently, who he was with. He was spending all his free time with the daughter of the gang's enemy, and Aidan realized that he would have to accept the consequences for his actions. He wouldn't press his luck; he only hoped that he would be allowed to stay with her as she got better…and she would get better, right? It felt as if hours had passed since he had held Josalyn's head in his hands, although it had only been a few minutes.

The flurry of thoughts flickered in Aidan's eyes, and Robin noticed. "Josalyn…that's her name, right?" Robin asked brusquely, reading his son's thoughts like a book. Aidan's gaze snapped back to gauge his father's tone, before focusing hard on a low-hanging tree branch over Robin's shoulder.

"Yes. Josalyn Ardel. I'm….I just…I'm sorry I li-" but Aidan didn't get to finish his thought, as Robin cut in sharply.

"Right, well, I suppose we will deal with that later. You should go see her." Aidan nodded gratefully, and father and son turned to walk back together, but not before Robin warned his son,

"But if you lay a finger on that boy, so help me…"

"I know!" Aidan responded, trying to focus all his energy on helping Josalyn, and not on how she happened to arrive in her less-than-perfect condition.

Meanwhile, Josalyn had blacked out, and was lying limply on the dirt floor of the clearing. Djaq was kneeling on the ground, concentrating on cleaning the outside of the wound to keep it from being infected. She had to pull the arrow out, which would no doubt upset Mr. Ardel, and since Robin had left the girl's angry father for Allan to handle, she didn't know what would happen if anything went wrong. Much had been rushing back and forth between townspeople, trying to find anyone who was qualified enough to assist Djaq. No one stepped forward. The crowding townspeople, despite Little John's attempts to contain the situation, were unnerving, and Djaq glanced up quickly to see Will standing at her side.

"What do you need?" he asked quietly, calmly. Despite the fear and anticipation surrounding her, Will's assured, gentle tone allowed her to get a hold of herself, and reassess the circumstances. She smiled weakly, and told him specifically what she needed from her medicine supply. He was off in a second, running faster than she had ever seen. Djaq decided to revel in Will's character at a more appropriate time, and she snapped her head back down to focus intently on Josalyn's wound. She had to wait for the medicine to take out the arrow, so the best thing she could do was make the girl more comfortable, and prepare for any complications. She thought quickly of any problem that might be encountered, and made slight adjustments in her head for each of them. She knew that, if the arrow could be taken out smoothly, and if the would was not infected, the girl would make a full recovery in time. But Djaq was not one to focus blindly on the best result; rather she prepared for the worst, and hoped for the best.

Then, as Little John let out an exasperated sigh of impatience with the villagers, Djaq stood. "I need water and blankets, and any medical supplies you have in town," she stated with confidence, supremely for the benefit of Mr. Ardel, who looked uncontrollably angry. He was naturally upset about his daughter, but Much had explained to him three times that Djaq was a doctor, and knew what she was doing. The doctor in their town had never dealt with arrow wounds such as this before, according to a flustered assessment from a villager, so Djaq was truly their only hope at this point. However, Mr. Ardel was beyond reasoning.

"I THINK," the hot headed man began, "that MY DAUGHTER would be better off in the hands of a _qualified_ doctor, and not in those of a filthy Saracen woman." He sneered the last few words, which caused John's arms to fall to his sides, staring incredulously at the angry little man in front of him. He moved forward, but as it turned out, Allan A Dale quite literally beat him to the punch. He reached out and delivered a sharp blow to the man's jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground. Mr. Ardel sat there, stunned, as Allan leaned over him menacingly.

"Djaq," he began icily, "is the best damn doctor your daughter could ever have. You don't deserve her help, which is why it is fortunate that _you_ are not the one injured. Your daughter needs medical attention, and Djaq will do everything she can to help her. Now, I understand you are concerned, but if you would like to be of any assistance AT all, you could at least get your daughter some bloody water!"

Djaq stared, dumfounded, at Allan, and she was not the only one. Mr. Ardel, eyes blazing, sent one more glance over to Josalyn, sizing up her condition, before he slowly got to his feet, and jerked his head behind him, silently ordering his men to follow him. With a hard, fierce look at Allan, he eventually turned and left the camp quickly, presumably to get water. Djaq had no idea that Allan had it in him to speak so passionately or firmly, and she found herself staring at him for a few moments longer than was absolutely necessary; so long that Allan stared back at her and shrugged.

"Sorry. He was out of line," he said guiltily. He was gauging Djaq's expression as disgust. Djaq shook her head, shocked and rather impressed with Allan. At that point, Aidan and Robin had reappeared, and were watching Allan with the same incredulity as the rest of the camp. And then Will was in front of them, out of breath, holding out the medical supplies. Djaq snapped out of her still appraisal, jolting into action as she received the materials she needed. Will had brought a large cloth, which Djaq promptly handed to the few women still milling around, watching Josalyn fearfully.

"Tear this into long shreds- we need to stop the loss of blood as soon as the arrow is out," she told them smoothly. The women nodded, eyes wide, and snatched the cloth from her. Djaq worked quickly, removing the arrow with ease, and searching the wound for infection. Luckily, the arrow had not been aimed differently; it hit her in the left side. If Josalyn had moved a fraction of an inch, the arrow wouldn't have hit her at all, but if she had moved in the other direction, she would probably be dead. Once the arrow was out and the wound inspected, all Djaq could do was wait and pray for her to wake up. Josalyn was strong, and Djaq was privately very confident that she would make a full recovery. However, after reassuring Josalyn's mother that Josalyn had the strength to recover, Djaq stayed quiet on the matter. She did not want to commit to any prognosis before she truly knew Josalyn would be okay.

Mr. Ardel returned after a while, appearing calm, if a little irritated. No one seemed clear on who exactly had shot Josalyn. It could have been anyone; there were at least twenty men standing around with arrows pointed in their direction at the time. Mr. Ardel was not particularly concerned, as it was an obvious accident of one of his own townspeople. If it had been Allan or another gang member…well, he would have been concerned. No one noticed that Caleb had disappeared from the spot he had previously been rooted to, except Aidan.

Aidan kneeled down in front of Josalyn, his face torn between fear and tenderness. He gently reached out and pushed a flyaway hair out of her eyes. Robin watched him for a moment, before looking up to realize that Mr. Ardel was watching him as well. However, his expression was one of hurt and frustration. With a deep breath, Robin walked over, and asked Frederick if they could talk. With a lingering glance at his injured daughter, the man nodded slightly, and they left the clearing. Robin explained that he knew nothing of the relationship between their children, and Ardel seemed to believe him. Robin ventured to ask questions he had been considering for years. He began by expressing his displeasure with the feud between them. After a while, Ardel began to frown and shake his head.

"He was my nephew. He was my responsibility," he said quietly. Robin assessed the man shrewdly.

"Who?"

Mr. Ardel winced as he recollected the terrible day he had lost Jeremy. He cleared his throat, and told Robin the entire story; how Jeremy had stood up for their town under the impression that Robin would swoop in to save the day. When he had finished, Robin looked stricken.

"Let me assure you…I need you to believe that I knew nothing of this." He shook his head, his eyes wide. "We heard nothing of the soldier's attack on your village. If we knew anything about it…we would have come. I am so sorry for your loss."

Frederick pursed his lips, and glanced at Robin warily. He had spent years lying to himself, focusing on the fact that Robin had deserted them; it was Robin's fault Jeremy was gone…he didn't want to take the blame. But as Robin's honest words sank in, the basis for his anger dissipated, and he was left feeling ashamed of how long the feud had lasted. His eyes shining, he slowly began to accept Jeremy's loss as what it was…a tragic accident. Jeremy should not have risked his life, but when it came down to it, it was no one's fault but the Sheriff.

From Josalyn's side, Aidan was watching his father and Josalyn's curiously. Finally, Robin glanced out of the woods at Aidan, and his son dropped his gaze instantly. When he looked up again, Robin was walking towards him. He stood up cautiously, watching as Mr. Ardel walked over to a woman; probably his wife. He put an arm over the woman's shoulder comfortingly. Robin cleared his throat.

"I spoke with him. He has decided to end this feud between us…which is good," he sighed, looking for an instant very tired. "However…he doesn't want you seeing Josalyn again."

At that moment, as Aidan's heart was sinking, a cry rang out in the clearing.

"She is awake!"


	17. Chapter 17

Aidan paced back and forth in the camp, kicking up dust and taking long strides. He was focusing hard on his feet, turning sharply once he reached one end of the camp, before marching back to the other side. He was driving himself crazy thinking about Josalyn, and it was barely daybreak. Aidan was the first one awake, and in a camp filled with early risers, that was quite an accomplishment. But the boy couldn't help it; he couldn't sleep without being confident that Josalyn was okay. Of course, he knew she was alive and recovering. But what if the wound was infected, despite Djaq's repeated assurance that it was not? What if something went wrong? Had Caleb returned to camp yet? Aidan paused at the edge of the trees, digging his toes into the soles of his shoes, trying his best not to take off sprinting towards her camp. He knew that was not an option. Not without his father's approval or accompaniment.

Minutes later, Robin stepped out of the shelter into the new morning, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning. He dropped his hand heavily to his side when he spotted Aidan, wide-eyed and frantic. With a sigh, he made his way over to the already-built fire. Aidan was on his heels in seconds, as he had expected.

"Father, I need to see her! It's been a week!"

"It's been two days. Not even two days- a day and a half," Robin corrected. "And you know she is fine, and Allan checked in with the town yesterday and she is recovering splendidly. You know that."

"But I need to see her! You don't know what it's like, being separated from the one you love…" Robin glanced up at him, amusement clear on his face.

"You were saying?" he said, grinning. Aidan scowled, but was not fazed.

"Right…so you should know how important it is for me to see her! Just to be near her again!" Robin took a deep breath.

"Aidan. We have to comply with her father's wishes. I respect his requests, and you certainly need to respect him. We cannot stir up any animosity with these people. We have barely achieved peace!"

"Please just let me go for the morning! Just for a little while?" Aidan was borderline begging at this point, but he didn't care.

"This isn't my decision, Aidan! He does not want you there, and so the matter is not between you and I. It is his problem with you, and until he sends word that it is okay for you to visit, you will not go."

"Could I at least leave the camp?" Aidan asked, crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow.

Robin's mouth twitched upwards as he stared appraisingly at his son. "Ah. That is a matter between you and I. And no, you may not leave."

"Why not?!" Aidan flung his hands above his head in desperation. Robin frowned.

"Honestly? You don't understand why? After lying to me for weeks; lying to the entire gang, as a matter of fact. You don't see why I'm reluctant to give you any sort of freedom? Be grateful I haven't tied you to the shelter."

Aidan tried to stem his impatient sigh, as that would get him nowhere. He realized, deep down, that his father was right for restraining him a bit after his lie was revealed. He truly felt bad for lying to his family, but that didn't mean it wasn't irritating.

"How long, then? Could you at least put a date on my freedom?"

Robin sighed deeply. "Fine. You may leave camp in a week. However, you will not be allowed within a mile of Josalyn's home. Got it?" Aidan nodded, already formulating plans to get out of camp. Robin grinned. "And to ensure that you won't leave camp the second I do, you will not be alone today."

Aidan froze. What did that mean?

"Will and Allan are staying here," Robin continued. "Nothing much is happening today, so it won't be an issue." Aidan narrowed his eyes and glared at his father, as Allan walked out into the bright clearing.

"Brilliant morning, innit! Hey Aidan, I heard I'm your designated babysitter today!"

Aidan got up and lunged for Allan, who swiftly dodged his attack, getting him into a tight headlock. He laughed at his young charge. "Well that's no way to start off the day! You need to learn to respect your elders!" Aidan tried desperately to get out of the hold, but when that failed he pretended to be choking, so Allan automatically loosened his grip. Robin looked over, traces of worry on his face, and Allan started to move his arm away. Before he could gain the upper hand again, Aidan tackled Allan, and then stood over him triumphantly. "Works every time," he said proudly, as Robin doubled over with laughter.

The gang eventually all sat down to eat together, in relatively good spirits. The sheriff had not disrupted the general flow of Nottingham recently, and so the gang's only goal today was to deliver food, which took but a few hours. The morning was bright and cool, the perfect temperature, and the gang was ready to relax. As they sat around the camp, soaking up the sunny sky, Allan turned to face the gang, with a calculating expression on his face.

"Bit ironic really. Josalyn getting shot? And recovering so nicely?"

The gang stared at Allan. Ironic was not one of the words they would have chosen to describe the situation. "Horrific" and "terrible", yes, but not ironic.

"Ironic? I hardly see that," Djaq noted, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, look, I'm not being funny, but Josalyn…and Marian?"

The gang seemed to exchange a quick glance, before fixing Allan with blank stares. Allan looked around, and cleared his throat.

"Come on! Marian was stabbed by Gisbourne? Josalyn was…was shot…oh come now I can't be the only one who notices these things. Marian was stabbed, and she came back from the dead, basically. Now Josalyn was shot, and she recovered?!"

He looked around the circle helplessly, but everyone continued to stare at him. No one said a word.

"And their looks? I mean, Josalyn might as well be a younger version of Marian! It's like she was made in her image or something!" After a long pause, Djaq shook her head.

"But…Marian's hair is at least two shades darker than Josalyn, and it's much shorter." Djaq noted.

"And her face is completely different. Different shape," Much added, motioning across his own face.

"And Marian was _stabbed_ by her ex-fiancée, while Josalyn was _shot_ by her brother. It isn't the same at all." John said, nodding.

"I'm getting a little disturbed by this conversation, personally. You are comparing Josalyn to my mother." Aidan said, frowning. Allan scowled around the circle. Not a single person agreed with him. Fed up, he stood quickly.

"Fine. Fine! Never mind, forget I brought it up," he grumbled. Allan stalked off, and the gang grinned at each other.

"That was fun." Robin said cheerily, once he was out of earshot.

"Indeed! But honestly, those two are unbelievably similar. Could be like mother and daughter, or something." Much said, laughing. Everyone nodded.

A/N- Right, so that was mainly for my own entertainment. Of course, Josalyn was made in Marian's image. I just love making fun of Allan. It's cause I love him best. Next chapter: Aidan in camp with Allan and Will. Oh, and sorry this was so short. Next one will be longer.


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry again. I swear, work just keeps piling up. But I am proud to say that this is my longest update ever! Thank you for the reviews, if I didn't respond directly to you. And, again, I do not own Robin Hood. **

"Is there not ANYTHING to do in this camp?!"

Aidan rolled his eyes in response. Allan had been sitting in camp for all of two hours, and he was already bored. Will lounged on the ground, concentrating hard on the wood he was carving. His face was determined and focused, which Allan found unbearably annoying. How was one supposed to have any fun when they spent their free time working?

"Honestly, why don't we all take a walk? Go into town?" he asked hopefully. Finally Will turned away from his work.

"Allan. You know we can't do that. Aidan can't leave the camp, and we can't leave Aidan. Piece it together."

Allan scowled. "Aidan, what do you do for fun around here?"

Aidan tried not to point out that Allan had been there for mere hours, while he was under house arrest for weeks at a time. He had no right to be bored yet. He sighed, and bit his lip, thinking. "I practice archery," he said, shrugging. Allan shook his head, wrinkling his nose. He didn't enjoy practicing archery for the fun of it. It seemed to be an activity that only Aidan and Robin actually liked.

"Anything else?"

"Not in the camp," Aidan replied tersely. Once outside of the camp…on the other edge of the forest, for example, there were more exciting endeavors.

Allan sighed deeply. He was not used to sitting still for long amounts of time. "Hey! Why don't we go fishing!"

Aidan raised an eyebrow, and he and Will exchanged a look. Anything to make him stop whining like a small child. Besides, the rest of the gang would be back soon. He got up, and Will quickly created three crude fishing rods. They made their way down to the large riverbank a mile away, and Aidan smiled to see the point where Josalyn had pushed him in. He really missed her. It was then that Aidan impulsively decided he should go see her, although he felt a little guilty for leaving Will and Allan. But they wouldn't be blamed…in any case, Robin would be upset with him, not with them, and it was worth it to see Josalyn. Once Will and Allan had each found a suitable place to set up, Aidan casually made his way downstream, around a bend in the river. He sat so that he was still in their line of sight for a while. Once they had stopped looking after him, and started talking, Aidan saw his opportunity. He slowly backed away from the bank into the forest, and then turned around and took off through the trees. He would need to pass through the camp and run in the opposite direction, but he was fairly confident that Robin had not returned yet.

With excitement, Aidan raced back towards camp, for the first time in months actually enjoying the feeling of running. He flew past trees, loving the rush of wind that suctioned his hair away from his eyes. He slowed down as he reached a crossing in the roads, mostly out of habit. He thought back to when he had first come to stay with his father. He had loved running even more then, and because of his small size, he was able to maneuver swiftly through even the densest parts of the forest. For the first month or so of him living in the forest, relations with his father had remained tight and surface-like. They regarded each other as acquaintances more than father and son, until one day when they were running through the woods. Robin had instructed his son to be mindful of the paths in the forest; that he could never be sure who would be on it or when. Aidan had to stop at the crossings, before he was in sight, and be conscious of the surroundings. Once he had looked in both directions, he could continue. Aidan didn't approve of this rule, and when he was running alone he did not heed his father's warning. He only modified his behavior when he was in the presence of Robin. When he remembered at all.

On this particular occasion, Robin was a few steps behind his son, who was happily pushing through the trees. Aidan was calling back to his father, excited that he was "winning", because he was ahead of him. He was not paying attention to the crossing they were approaching, and Robin only had time to register the sound of horses before his son had bolted through an opening in the trees, into the pathway of two farmers on horseback. The horse closest to Aidan reared back, sending its rider toppling to the ground. The other farmer managed to stop himself from colliding with his neighbor, and before the animal could right itself, Robin had swept down upon them, grabbing his son out of the path. He made sure they were well out of the way of the horse before he threw his arm roughly around his son, pulling him into a tight hug. Aidan was shocked; not only because of his near-death experience, but that his father was hugging him. He had never shown any outward sign of affection towards him, until now. Before he could respond, Robin had released him, and turned sharply to face the farmers. The one who had fallen off his horse was irritated, and Robin had to use every ounce of charisma he had to make the men continue on their way peacefully. He knew that one word spread about outlaws in the forest would be catastrophic for the newly formed gang. Aidan stood in the pathway, biting his lip. Robin turned to face him then, scowling.

"You are unharmed?" he asked. Aidan nodded furiously. Robin glanced at the long road in front of them, and then reached forward and grabbed his son's upper arm, jerking him towards the safety of the forest.

"Then may I ask what the hell you think you were doing?!" he yelled, still pulling Aidan with him. " I have told you again and again not to run into crossings like that! You were just about killed!" Aidan looked at his feet, abashed. Robin had never yelled at him before.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Robin sighed.

"Don't scare me like that. I don't want to lose you," he said, quieter. Aidan nodded. Robin let go of his arm, realizing how hard he had been holding him. Aidan rubbed his arm before dropping it to his side, raising an eyebrow.

"Can we keep running?" he asked hopefully. Robin rolled his eyes.

"Yes. But watch where you are going." That event had broken the ice between the two, whether for better or worse Aidan wasn't sure. He tried to think back to that first month, where his father had never yelled at him. He had treated him as just another gang member; albeit a small gang member. It seemed like a quieter, peaceful time. However, Aidan wouldn't throw away the close, if sometimes less than perfect relationship he had with his father now.

Aidan stopped now, smiling back at the memory, before he glanced to his right. As he swiveled his head back to look to the left, something bowled over him, leaving him sprawled out on the ground. He winced, scrambling to get out of the pathway. How was it that by taking the necessary precautions, he had just been attacked?! He crawled backwards on his hands, and suddenly his hand made contact with something…or someone. He heard whomever it was take a sharp intake of breath, and he quickly moved his hand. Aidan turned, and was surprised to see the person…the girl, rather, looking just as concerned as he was. Her strawberry blonde hair was standing almost on end; flying all around her face. She had hazel eyes and light skin, a little sunburned but basically flawless. She was pretty, but her face was scrunched up now, her eyebrows knit close together.

"I am SO sorry," she began, shaking her head. "I am so clumsy!" Aidan grinned.

"No harm done. Are you okay?" The girl nodded, and they both moved to get up at the same moment, hitting foreheads in the process. The girl winced, rubbing her forehead. She peeked up at Aidan, beginning to smile. Aidan, who was very much in pain at this point, raised an eyebrow.

"What is your name?" he asked finally. The girl grinned.

"Irony of ironies, my name is Grace," she said, laughing. "Lucy Grace. You can just call me Lucy…the Grace part confuses people after they meet me", she smirked, tossing her head back so that her hair was out of her eyes. "And you?"

"Aidan," he replied, extending a hand. Lucy met this greeting with enthusiasm. Then she rubbed her forehead again, and began to laugh.

Aidan laughed too. He liked this girl immediately, although not in quite the same way as Josalyn. He had been instantly attracted to Josalyn, and although Lucy was very pretty, he didn't feel the same with her. He couldn't quite place the feeling he had with her. Lucy stopped laughing abruptly, looked anxiously at the road, and hastily moved into the trees. Aidan followed, curious, as she knelt down, biting her lip. Suddenly, he became aware of the sounds of horses coming towards them, and Lucy pulled him down next to her. She looked afraid, and Aidan began to wonder about her. They stayed on the ground for a moment and as soon as the horses, bearing Nottingham guards, had passed, she stood cautiously. Aidan smiled.

"I'm afraid…I am not the sheriff's favorite person." She admitted, biting her lip, and glancing at him warily. "You aren't…I mean…you won't turn me in, will you?" Aidan laughed.

"No. No, actually, I was about to say that we have more in common than you may think." Lucy Grace let out her breath, and smiled at him.

"So you are also running from the law?" she asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically. Aidan shrugged.

"Something like that. I'm pretty dangerous." He drew himself up to his full height, and stared down at her menacingly. Lucy burst out laughing, and then cupped a hand over her mouth.

"Sorry. I just…you just don't seem that intimidating, sorry."

Aidan frowned. "I'll have you know, I am a known outlaw." (That was a bit of a stretch, but how would she know?) Lucy's eyes became wide, and she stepped toward him so quickly that Aidan jumped. She began to bounce on her toes, looking up at him excitedly.

"Honestly? Because I need help…locating someone. An outlaw, as a matter of fact."

Aidan nodded, leaning against a tree. "He have a name?"

"Robin Hood." The girl stated decisively. Aidan stuck his tongue in his cheek, staring at the girl. He was suddenly able to categorize the feeling he had; he had never had a little sibling before, but he felt an overwhelming urge to protect this girl, like an older brother. However, like a brother, he also felt an urge to tease Lucy. An idea struck him.

"As a matter of fact, I have been searching for the Outlaw camp for weeks. I think I got rather close yesterday…I could show you what I've found, if you want?" Lucy's eyes lit up, before she cast a glance down to the ground. When she looked up again, her gaze was calculating and business-like.

"I'm not sure. I don't know if I trust you yet. As you said, you are an outlaw. And outlaws are notorious for being liars." Aidan smiled. This girl was intense in every emotion she had expressed as of yet, and it was rather entertaining.

"Ah, but you have told me that YOU are also on the run from the law. Isn't that correct?"

Lucy nodded. "So perhaps it is I who should not trust you," Aidan said, trying to keep his face impassive. Lucy sighed.

"Okay. Maybe we both need to trust each other. In moderation," she stated, looking him up and down appraisingly. Aidan nodded.

"Good idea."

He led Lucy deep into the forest, positive that his father would have returned home by now. Why not have one last hurrah before he was in shackles, as he would surely be soon. He led the girl close to one of the traps, keeping an eye out for the gang, in case they were wandering nearby. He didn't want the surprise to be ruined. He absentmindedly flipped up the hood of his jacket, so he wouldn't instantly be recognized. Then he heard the wire snap, and in the distance, he heard a bell chime. That was the alarm. It would only be a matter of time now. Lucy, who had tripped over the wire, instantly knelt down and inspected it.

"Oh no…Aidan this must be one of their traps! My friends warned me about these…and here I've walked right into it! I can't believe it!" Aidan grinned, and suddenly he heard the familiar voice of Little John.

"Drop your weapons. You are surrounded." Aidan watched as Lucy quickly tore off the small bow she had on her back, dropped it to the ground, and raised her hands in the air.

"Aidan…" she whimpered, as Aidan had folded his arms across his chest.

"No. No. I came here to prove a point. Robin Hood is a coward! You won't even show yourself, will you, scum? And you send your gang to do your dirty work! Your time is up, Hood! Come out and we might spare the lives of your gang." He did his best to sound like Gisbourne, and was surprised by how convincing it was. Lucy shook her head, wordlessly. She nearly screamed as another hooded figure emerged from behind Aidan. The gang came out of the trees, bows in the air, and Allan was the first to realize who they had captured. His look of petrified determination was replaced with both relief and annoyance.

"Oh for the love of…it's just Aidan!" He dropped his bow to his side, scowling at the boy. Lucy turned to Robin, mouth agape.

"Oh, please don't hurt us, Sir. He meant no harm…I meant no harm. Honestly, I just came to speak with you and I never meant for this to happen and I wasn't actually traveling with…" Robin put out a hand to stop the girl's flow of words.

"Relax," he said, tossing the hood back from his head, and smiling gently at the terrified girl. "We would never harm you. And we know you aren't with him." He nodded curtly to Aidan, who grinned back at him, pushing his hood back as well.

"So, Hood. We meet again," Aidan said darkly, raising an eyebrow. Lucy began to tremble, shaking her head quickly. Robin continued as if there wasn't an interruption.

"You said you were here to speak with me?" Lucy nodded, glancing fearfully at Aidan. "I…I used to be a maid in the castle…I escaped from that job as soon as I could, although technically I am still a servant of the sheriff. But…I know a lot about the castle, as well as the Sheriff's plans…I could help you... I just…please, don't pay attention to what he is saying!" Robin smiled at her, more than interested now.

"Don't worry. We would never hurt you….him, on the other hand. Him, we might have to torture," he said, scowling directly at Aidan. Lucy shook her head again.

"No…please. He didn't mean it!! Please don't torture him!" she said weakly, grabbing Aidan's arm. Robin raised an eyebrow, taking a few steps closer to them.

"I'm assuming he didn't tell you? This is my son, Aidan." Lucy released his arm. She had to force herself to close her mouth, which was gaping open.

"Your…son?"

"Yes. Unfortunately." Robin grimaced, reached over and gave Aidan a sharp blow to the side of the head. "What is wrong with you? Terrifying that poor girl. Would you at least apologize?!"

Aidan rubbed his throbbing head ruefully, and smiled weakly at Lucy. "I really am sorry about that. It was just too easy." He braced himself. If it were Josalyn, she would have probably attacked him by now. But to his great surprise, the girl threw her head back and laughed.

"That was great! I swear I felt my heart stop! Impressive, Aidan." Aidan grinned, a little unsure of himself.

"See? Someone appreciates my humor," he said smugly to his father. Robin rolled his eyes.

"Of course, I will have to get you back for that…that is, if I may speak with you, " her gaze fell on Robin, who nodded instantly.

"Of course. Of course, please let my gang escort you back to our camp. You may stay as long as necessary." Lucy Grace nodded gratefully, and was about to follow Djaq's lead back into camp when she looked back at Aidan.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked warily. Aidan grinned, realizing he was getting out of a long lecture, and strode over to her side.

"Why of course. I wouldn't be so rude as to leave my guest alone." He shot Robin a satisfied smirk, which his father met, annoyed.

Aidan walked back up to the camp, feeling a small pang of disappointment that he hadn't gotten to see Josalyn. But she was recovering fine; so there was no real need to see her. Besides, things in the camp had just gotten a lot more interesting.

**Okay, so don't hate me for that. If you don't like Lucy, she does not have to be anything more than a friend to Aidan. Although personally, I feel as though Josalyn could deal with a little friendly competition! Your thoughts? **


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Just once I would like to start a chapter without apologizing for the time it took to write it. Unfortunately, I am scatterbrained and busy so it has taken about a month (just a few minutes short, actually) to get it up. I swear, it will never take this long again…in the foreseeable future. It is summer so it should go a lot faster now. Thanks for bearing with me.**

Aidan woke to the sound of laughter. He frowned, not used to such cheerfulness first thing in the morning. He stretched, and cautiously got up. As he walked out into the new day, the first thing he saw was a flash of golden hair. Lucy was awake, and was surprisingly peppy. She seemed to be entertaining the rest of the gang with an elaborate played out story that, by the sound of her imitations, concerned the Sheriff. Aidan grinned as he came to sit next to Much on the ground, watching Lucy. She had stopped her performance as he came near.

"By all means, do not stop on my accord. This looks amusing," Aidan said, smiling encouragingly. She began again, taking into account the precise sneer the Sheriff was so fond of. The gang was entertained for a while in this manner, until suddenly Robin came jogging into camp. Aidan was a little surprised; he had barely noticed his father wasn't present with the entertainment before him.

"There is a caravan moving towards us. We need to intercept it, now," he said, out of breath. The gang instantly rose. Lucy bit her lip, as if unsure of what to do. Robin glanced at her. "I'm sorry, but we will have to speak later this afternoon. Aidan…why don't you show Lucy the forest." Aidan shrugged; if he couldn't work with the gang he certainly didn't mind showing his friend around.

Robin nodded. "All right. Let's go." He began to grab his bow, and then turned around swiftly. "Oh, and Aidan. You stick to the forest. I mean it." Aidan rolled his eyes. If Lucy was running from the Sheriff, did his father honestly think he would take her into the town? He wasn't born yesterday! But Robin was still standing there, as if expecting an answer.

"Yes, sir," he replied begrudgingly. His father nodded, and in a flash, the gang had left.

"Well then. I suppose I should show you the sights!" Aidan said, scuffing his toe in the dirt and grinning.

"Oh, good. I've been meaning to ask about some things."

Aidan cocked his head to the side. "Well, Lucy. These," he gestured grandly and mockingly towards the forest. "Are trees! They provide shade and wood and excellent cover for us outlaws. And this is dirt!" He displayed the dusty ground with a flourish. "Any other questions? Or have I cleared everything up?"

Lucy scowled. "Hilarious. You know, I think your father may be right about your sense of humor."

Aidan laughed. "Well all right then, what would you like to see?"

Lucy pursed her lips. She jumped lightly onto a rock, and then stuck out her arms and balanced on top of it, focusing on aligning her toes across the surface of the stone. After a moment she looked up at him. "Well, what do you do for fun?"

Aidan opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Most of what he did for fun involved Josalyn, these days. But did he really want to tell her about the girl he loved? Then again, why wouldn't he? Why did it seem so uncomfortable? After an inordinate amount of time deliberating, he realized that Lucy was staring at him.

"Well? Don't tell me your life is so dull that you have NOTHING to do?" She exclaimed, a smile playing on her lips.

With a sigh, Aidan decided to show her the clearing that he and Josalyn met in frequently. Along the way there, he felt the need to tell his new friend about his romantic interest.

"Well…this is a clearing that I go to sometimes….with a friend of mine. I mean, she's more than a friend really…she's…well…"

"Ah, so you do have a girl. I wondered who you were rushing off to see when we met." Lucy nodded sagely. "What is her name?"

Aidan smiled- that was easy. "Josalyn. Josalyn Ardel. And her father absolutely hated my father…"

He found himself explaining his history with Josalyn, as well as the events of the last week to Lucy. They sat down in the grass, allowing the sun to beat down upon them. Lucy was an attentive listener- she asked questions and laughed and gasped in all the appropriate places. Aidan felt comfortable with her; he completely opened up to the girl in their time in the clearing. Eventually, he paused.

"I've been talking about myself this whole time, and here I meant to get to know you. I'm sorry…tell me about your life."

Lucy smiled at him. She looked at the ground for a moment, and when she looked up, her face was pensive. "Later. I want you to do something first." Aidan raised an eyebrow. "Lie down," she said, smiling. Aidan stared at her. "I'm serious! Just do it. Lay down and just completely relax." She then flopped down on her back, stretching her arms out behind her head and sighing deeply. Aidan laughed, but she looked so comfortable that he couldn't help lying down in the soft grass beside her.

"Now what?" he asked, squinting at her through the bright sunlight.

"Now close your eyes, and forget about anything that ever bothered you. Ever."

Aidan raised his head. "That's impossible. I can't just forget things. They happened." Lucy had closed her eyes already, and shook her head slightly.

"Just trust me. Let go of everything unwanted in your life, and focus on the things you enjoy." Aidan was about to get up, but he thought better of it, and stretched out on the ground again. He closed his eyes, and put out of his mind all the stress and worry that had accumulated over years of living in secret in the forest. He thought of his home, of his father and mother, and of Josalyn.

"Okay…now what?" He thought he heard Lucy sigh impatiently.

"You aren't relaxed. Think deeper. Think of everything you want, everything you have ever wanted. Think of the people who you care about, and think of why you care about them." Aidan thought hard about himself. He pictured the Sheriff and Gisbourne being run out of town; of his father taking over. Of actually living with his mother. He thought of Djaq and Will together, starting their own family. Before he knew it, he had fallen into the happiest state of bliss he had ever known. He opened his eyes, and sat up. He felt as if he had taken off a heavy burden. Lucy smiled, sitting up next to him.

"How do you feel?"

"Good. Really good." Aidan admitted. "Why did you make me do that?"

Lucy shrugged. "When I was little, my mother had me lay down and do that every time I was overwhelmed or upset or sad." She laughed. "When I got up, and felt wonderful, I thought it was magic. I was convinced that some magic spell was placed on me as I closed my eyes. I just…wanted you to feel that kind of happiness." Aidan smiled. He felt relaxed and peaceful, and he gently fell back against the grass again. Lucy lay beside him, and the next thing Aidan was aware of was a shadow over his head. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times, startled. It was cooler, now, but there was a certain warmth on him- Lucy's head was resting on his chest. His arm was draped over her shoulder. Then he looked up at the shadow, which was actually Josalyn. Aidan started, and carefully disentangled himself from Lucy. He got up slowly, registering how upset Josalyn looked.

"Josalyn. You look amazing," he said sweetly, albeit nervously. He was serious; it was a relief to see her fully recovered. He made to embrace her, but Josalyn took a step back.

She scowled, and turned away from him, striding back across the clearing. Aidan took a deep breath and ran after her, grabbing her hand and swinging her around to face him.

"Look, that wasn't…I mean we just…"

"You just what?!" Josalyn snapped. "Who is she?! Why did you bring her here, of all places? This is our spot, Aidan! I can't believe you would…I trusted you!!"

Aidan put a finger gently to her lips. "I understand you're angry, but let me explain. Lucy is just a friend, and we just-"

"Slept together!" Josalyn spat.

"Well…literally, yes. But not…I mean, we just fell asleep together! Nothing happened, Josalyn. Trust me!" Josalyn wrenched her hand back from Aidan's, stalking away again. Aidan hung his head, and then ran after and past her, turning suddenly to block her progress. He put up his hands, and she stopped, folding her arms across her chest.

"Jos, have I ever lied to you before?" She shook her head darkly. "Then what makes you think I'm lying now? I met Lucy yesterday, and I am showing her the forest today. She's just my friend, honestly!"

Josalyn huffed, and then unfolded her arms. "Then why were you lying down together?"

"We were tired…we had been walking around all morning. We were just sleeping. Together. You don't need to be worried…but I wish you would get to know her. You might really like her." Josalyn relaxed a little, appearing far less distressed. Encouraged, Aidan continued. "Besides, it would make it kind of difficult back at the camp if you hated her…"

"Back at the camp?! What…you mean…she's living in the camp? WITH you?!"

Aidan bit his lip. He always spoke too quickly. He hurriedly made to explain the situation to Josalyn. As he stumbled over his words, he noticed Josalyn's attention shift direction. She stared coolly at a point just over his shoulder. Aidan turned, and saw that the yelling had awakened Lucy. She was now standing behind him, smiling. She took a step forward, so that she was next to him, and stuck her hand out boldly towards Josalyn.

"You must be Josalyn. I swear, I've heard so much about you in the last afternoon that it feels like I know you!" Lucy kept smiling sincerely even as Josalyn regarded her hand warily. She glared daggers at Aidan before extending her own hand slowly. Lucy shook it eagerly, and then laughed. "I swear, he never stops talking about you! Quite the struggle you two went through, though. Of course, he made himself out to be the hero of the story. Men, right?!"

Despite herself, Josalyn began to smile at the girl. Aidan was taken aback; Lucy certainly had a way with people. Josalyn cocked her head to the side.

"Oh yes…if there's one thing he likes to talk about, it's himself," she said cautiously, although the hostility was gone from her tone. Lucy beamed encouragingly. "Ah, yes. He meant to get to know me today, but he spent the whole time on his life story!" Josalyn actually laughed this time, and suddenly, Aidan became aware of the budding companionship between the girls. And he became a little sick of the fun at his expense. But the girls were just getting started, as Josalyn began to tell every embarrassing anecdote she had about the two of them. Lucy once again displayed her excellent listening skills, and Aidan could tell Josalyn was getting a kick out of her new friend.

After numerous stories, mostly concerning him, the girls branched out onto different topics. Aidan, who had long since begun to daydream, started to focus as he realized Lucy was telling Josalyn about her past.

"…and so then I was sent to Nottingham. I've been planning to run ever since I got there- to find my brother and get far away from here. No offense…I mean it really is lovely here, especially in the forest. But that Sheriff…he was horrible. I've literally been cooped up in the castle for the last year. The only good part was all the information I gathered. The other maids would gossip constantly. And while you can't believe everything you hear, I can say for certain that most of it was true- I took it upon myself to investigate. And then whenever someone important was at the castle, it was easy to listen in on conversations. The hallways echo, and if you are in the right place at the right time…well, I learned a lot. I heard all about Allan-A-Dale…".

At this point she glanced at Aidan, realizing that he was paying attention now. "And so I saw him pointing out all the secret entrances. Of course, the Sheriff could block them all, but he needs extra ways out of the castle. The outlaws aren't the only ones who used those escape routes. If we were ever attacked, or the Sheriff needed to get away quickly, secret exits would come in handy. So…"

"So there are new entrances?!" Aidan asked in disbelief.

Lucy grinned. "Precisely." Then her face took on an unnaturally serious turn. "But since I just got away…I mean, I don't think the Sheriff knew how much I had found out, but if you find all the entrances and he finds me…"

"Don't worry! We would never allow him to harm you! We can even escort you to a new town…to find your brother?" Aidan was becoming increasingly excited about this bit of information.

Lucy smiled, and inclined her head towards him, as if in gratitude. As she looked back towards Josalyn, the glare from the sun abruptly became apparent, and Aidan inwardly cursed himself for falling asleep. It was almost sundown, and he was not exactly on the easiest terms with his father at the moment. Without further ado, he leapt up off the ground. As he began to let out a stream of goodbyes to Josalyn, he remembered the dozens of questions he had for her. He stopped, frowning slightly. "Has Caleb returned home?"

Josalyn looked at the ground and shook her head. "I'll tell you everything later. I'm fine, though. Don't worry." Aidan had indeed begun to worry about her again, but she stepped forward and kissed him, quickly abating any trace of worry from his thoughts. He smiled, and then motioned to Lucy, who had been standing at a distance from the couple.

They ran side by side as the sun continued to set, and Aidan again felt overwhelmingly comfortable in her presence. He rather hoped she would stay for a while.


	20. Chapter 20

Aidan woke up the next morning to a quiet camp. He saw that the gang was gathered around the fire eating breakfast, and listening intently to Lucy. She was explaining what she knew to Robin, and appeared to be drawing a layout of the castle with a stick in the dirt.

"So all you would need to do here is check to make sure the two sets of guards who patrol the grounds aren't near this turret. Which they hardly ever are, because they don't know it's an entrance yet. I only found out because Angela, a friend of mine in the kitchens, is married to the man who helped construct it. But this would be the easiest way by far." She smiled, biting her lip and looking up at Robin anxiously. Robin grinned.

"Thank you so much, Lucy, Honestly, this is a huge help for all of us."

Lucy beamed, and her eyes met Aidan's. She got up. "About time you woke up! You sleep away half the day!"

Aidan cocked his head to the side and grinned. "Not all of us are quite as energetic, and let's face it, annoying, in the morning."

She narrowed her eyes, walking past him with the intent of jabbing him in the ribs. He caught on to her plan, and before she could carry out her intent, grabbed her around the waist and picked her up easily. She screamed, and he laughed as he put her down again. She walked towards the river, still laughing to herself, and Aidan looked back at the gang. They were all staring at him.

"What?" he asked, self-conscious. Robin folded his arms across his chest. "Something I should know about her?"

Aidan shrugged. "Like what?"

"Like about you and her." Robin filled in, rolling his eyes. Aidan shook his head quickly. "Please! She's just a friend!"

Allan snorted. "I wish I had a friend like that," he muttered.

Aidan scowled, and sat down next to Much. Robin silently inspected the diagram of the castle, taking it all in. Aidan could tell the gears were working in his head; he was making a plan. He decided to seize this opportunity while he could.

"Um…Father? I was wondering…how soon do you think we will wait until we use this knowledge?" Aidan nodded at the diagram, and Robin frowned.

"That depends on the circumstances in Nottingham," he said carefully. "We need to wait for the opportune moment. If we dive in too quickly, without thinking this through, we could be found out and then we would lose the entrance altogether...and that might be the least of our worries."

Aidan pressed his lips together, battling internally with a question he had been dying to ask. He took a deep breath. "I'm going with, right?"

Robin stared at him for a moment, and then lowered his gaze to the ground. When he looked up again, his expression was one of finality. "No, Aidan. You will stay here with Lucy." Aidan stood up quickly, all thoughts of a calm diplomatic approach out of his mind.

"So all that training I went through? That was all for nothing?! You tell me I'm going to be a part of the gang, but I can't actually contribute? I'm ready for this, you know I am! I can't believe you!"

Robin stood, too. "Lower your voice," he instructed sharply. But Aidan was beyond the point of reasoning.

"No! No, I won't lower my voice. I have been waiting for weeks, months actually, to be given a chance! That's all I'm asking for! How am I supposed to learn if you won't let me be part of the action?" Robin sighed.

"Calm down. Let's discuss this rationally. I do believe you are ready for this responsibility, but I don't think I'm ready to put you in danger just yet. This is completely new territory for us, and if anything were to go wrong, if you were hurt or taken, I would never forgive myself. Give it time, Aidan."

Aidan grit his teeth and shook his head furiously. "All I have done is wait and prepare for weeks. I'm ready to act. And if you won't let me do that in the gang, then I'll do it on my own." Robin cocked his head exactly as Aidan always did, and began to walk towards his son.

"Just what does that mean?" But Aidan was already backing away from him, towards the forest.

"Nothing. I'm going for a walk," he said scathingly.

"No you aren't. What did you mean, you'll do it on your own? Aidan, so help me, you had better not put yourself in danger by going on some foolhardy quest to prove yourself." Aidan scowled.

"So when you go into Nottingham it's heroism, but when I want to help it's a foolhardy quest?!"

"That's not what I said, Aidan!" But Aidan had turned away from him. He paused for one moment, and then took off sprinting into the woods. Robin grimaced, and was debating going after him when Djaq spoke up from her spot by the fire. Robin jumped a little, as he had quite forgotten the rest of the gang was behind him.

"Give him time to cool his head, Robin. He just needs to gain some perspective." She was probably right. Robin looked down the path on which his son had retreated one last time before turning back to the map of the castle. He sat down, and focused all his energy on creating a suitable plan. The rest of the gang exchanged glances, and silently made the unanimous decision not to discuss Aidan's behavior with their leader. They both needed to cool down a bit.

Meanwhile, Aidan ran with a single-minded purpose. He wanted to find Josalyn, and go into the town. He thought about going by himself, but he had found that Josalyn was a stabilizing influence in his life, and he figured that someone would need to be rational if he was going anywhere near Nottingham. It was by a genuine stroke of luck that he ran into the young woman on the path leading away from Nottingham. She was carrying an empty basket, probably returning from selling something. Aidan barely paused, but grabbed her hand and continued running toward the one place his father would not condone.

Josalyn silently accepted Aidan's need for cooperation at first, but as they neared the town gates, she squeezed his hand, and quietly indicated that he should slow down. "As much as I love a good run, do you want to tell me what exactly we're doing?" she asked, watching his face intently. Aidan sighed, but he knew he was being unfair to her, so he stopped on the pathway. They both caught their breath for a moment.

"My father doesn't think I'm ready to be part of the gang. He won't let me go into the castle with him." Josalyn frowned, and looked away quickly. Truth be told, she would rather Aidan stayed in the forest than put himself at risk, but that kind of advice was not what he needed. Aidan saw her basic intent, though, and he folded his arms across his chest.

"You too, I see? Sorry I dragged you along, then. You are in no way obligated to join me," he said curtly. Aidan turned away, dropped his hands to his sides, and began to pick up his stride again. Suddenly, Josalyn's hand was tightly in his once again. She pulled him back to her.

"No. I believe in you, Aidan. I just want you to be careful. But whatever you are doing, I want to be with you." Aidan nodded once, and then began to move forward again, slower this time. He explained the argument he had with his father as they walked, and Josalyn listened silently.

"So right now, I just want to inspect the entrance. Make sure it's as safe as Lucy says it is. I figure I might as well be of some assistance," he ended, trying to keep the bitterness out of his tone as much as possible.

As they neared the gates of Nottingham, Aidan absentmindedly flipped up his hood and lowered his head. Lucy had enough sense to fill her basket with berries and apples along the way there, so that they had a plausible reason to go in the town. However, the guards barely noticed as they made their way in, they were so absorbed in their conversation.

"So 'pparently he's gone all day. Shouldn't be back till tomorrow. Finally, a night off." He chuckled deeply. The other guard smirked.

"Yes, but he left Gisbourne in charge. The ol' fool. Gizzy will have the place crashing down by tomorrow." They both laughed heartily.

"Leave it to the Sheriff…" the first guard said, shaking his helmeted head. Aidan was trying to control his enthusiasm at this point. As soon as they were safely inside the gates, Aidan pulled Josalyn into an alleyway.

"Did you hear that?!" he whispered in excitement. Josalyn grinned, although there was a trace of fear in her expression.

"Yes…but Aidan, what if those guards don't know what they're talking about? That could have just been a wayward rumor. You never know with the guards here…they do like to talk."

Aidan shook his head. "Nonsense. If they were manning the front gates today, then they would have seen the Sheriff leave. That isn't just gossip, it's the truth. This is like a sign…it's the perfect opportunity. The Sheriff is gone, and Gisbourne's too slow to keep up with the whole castle at once. It has to be tonight!" Josalyn bit her lip, torn about what to do. Aidan was so excited, and it did seem to be the truth, but if he was wrong and the Sheriff had not left, then there was a good chance they would be caught. Unlike Gisbourne's dismal efforts at controlling Nottingham, the Sheriff kept guards stationed in all the right places, to avoid trouble with outlaws. His control was far stronger than the single-handed reign of his right hand man. But Aidan was already planning and calculating. They were halfway to Josalyn's home before she had decided what to say.

"Aidan…"

The young outlaw was practically giddy from the excitement, and he barely heard her.

"Aidan!" This time he turned, still way beyond being rational. "Look…I know you are happy to put this plan in motion…but don't you think you should do a little more research? Even if the Sheriff is gone, it's not like this will be the only time he leaves. With more planning, you would be more successful the next time he is out of town." Aidan shook his head at her.

"Josalyn…I thought you believed I could do this." Josalyn sighed.

" I do. I just want you to be cautious." Aidan scowled, staring at her skeptically.

"You sound like my father." Josalyn put her hands up to her head in exasperation.

"Because we both care about you! And we are both concerned. And I'd bet the gang is just as concerned for you. If you would just accept that we are trying to help…"

But Aidan dropped her hand and glared at her. "Fine. You don't have to be a part of this. I'm sorry I wasted your day. I will talk to you later."

Josalyn groaned, and called after him, but Aidan had already disappeared down the path. He was vaguely aware of how stubborn and illogical he was becoming, but he pushed those realizations to the back of his mind, and focused on getting into the castle. They could find the strong rooms in the back, and get out enough gold to feed all of Nottingham, as well as the surrounding towns.

Aidan arrived back in camp minutes later, out of breath but still enthusiastic about his news. Everyone seemed to be rather busy, preparing as if to go out for the rest of the day. Aidan moved straight towards his father, who was quietly speaking with Allan. He considered waiting until a break in the conversation, but soon realized he couldn't hold his news in much longer.

"The Sheriff is leaving tonight. He won't be back until tomorrow! We need to strike tonight!" Robin glanced up at his son for a moment. His eyes narrowed.

"What are you talking about?"

Aidan took a deep breath, and recounted the events of the day to his father. When he was finished, he was practically bouncing up and down in anticipation. He waited anxiously for Robin's reaction. His father said nothing at first, staring at his son as if he had just grown another head. When no response was forthcoming, Aidan began to move towards the shelter.

"So…we need to form a plan, right? I was thinking that if only four of us actually went in, then the others could form a perimeter around the ca-"

"You went into Nottingham today?!" His father cut in sharply, grabbing his son's wrist before he could retreat further. Aidan raised an eyebrow. What kind of reaction was this?

"Yes…where I heard the guards talking…" Aidan began again, perturbed. His father was never this slow.

"You went into Nottingham by yourself? With no plan of action?" His voice was becoming dangerously quiet now, and Aidan tried halfheartedly to free his arm from his father's grasp.

"Well, yes. I mean, I just wanted to check up on the situation and luckily-"

"AIDAN!" Robin glanced at Allan and the rest of the gang swiftly, before taking a firm hold on the boy and half dragging him out of the clearing. Once they were out of earshot of the gang, Robin released him, and turned on his heel to face his son.

"Aidan, what do you think you were doing?! You could have been killed! Honestly, do I really need to spell out for you the dangers of going into Nottingham at all? And by yourself! What is it going to take to get through to you?! You are putting yourself in danger!"

Aidan tried his best not to let the overflow of emotions he was experiencing show through his expression. He was heartbroken that his father had not so much as acknowledged his news, and furious that he was treating him like a small child. For a few shining moments, he finally believed he fit in with the gang; felt like he could contribute. His father had just shattered that notion. With a steadying breath, Aidan forced his face to remain passive.

"Did you hear anything I told you? I'm sorry for putting myself at risk, but this is the opportunity we have been waiting for! We need to take advantage of it!"

"No, _we _don't need to do anything. I need to go into Clun on business this evening, and I was going to suggest you come along, but with this most recent display of irrational behavior, I believe it's best if you stay here."

Aidan shook his head. "Listen to me! We must act, now!"

"Aidan, how do you know that what you heard was true?! You have no proof, no evidence whatsoever, past the conversation of a pair of guards who probably spent half the day in the local tavern! You cannot just act because you feel like it; you must plan! You have to strategize! You are not thinking clearly."

Aidan was barely holding back tears at this point. He was so sick of everyone assuming he hadn't thought about his theories. He wasn't stupid, and he wasn't a child any more. But his father was leading him back to the camp now. He stopped him on the edge of the forest.

"Now we are leaving. You and Lucy are to stay in camp. We may return anytime tonight or tomorrow, but we need the two of you to ready extra weapons in case we need to return for them. That is how you can help us, understood? Aidan, believe me, we will explore this new entrance fully in time, but first we need to plan for any obstacle we might encounter. Is that clear?"

Aidan pressed his lips together tightly, and nodded once. Robin sighed, clapped him on the shoulder once, and began to walk back toward the gang. As soon as he was gone, Aidan strode over to where Lucy sat by the fire.

"Lucy," he breathed in her ear. "I am going to Nottingham tonight. Will you join me?"


	21. Chapter 21

"Listen, I know I have said this before, but are you…" Vasey cleared his throat and looked out the window briefly before beginning again. "Are you quite certain you want to go into Nottingham tonight? I'm afraid the castle will be in disarray- my assistant, Guy of Gisbourne, you may remember him…"

Whether he did or did not remember Guy, the young man gave no indication; rather he scowled back at the Sheriff with an unreceptive, borderline cold expression. Vasey awkwardly tried to regain his composure.

"Well, I informed him of your presence in the castle _tomorrow_, so he most likely will not be ready for you now. I'm sure your standards are much higher, and your father's establishment will seem like a-"

"Vasey! Would you stop talking?! Just stop! The only reason I am here is because my father is too busy to check up on your sniveling excuse for a town. I will come tonight, inspect the castle's strong rooms, make sure the castle itself is good enough…although I would think a mud hut is good enough for you people…nevertheless, if I can make a sweep of the town tomorrow, I should be on my way home by next sundown. Your town is quite small, correct? It won't take me long by horse. You do have horses, don't you?" The young man's face twisted up in a sneer at these last words. Vasey looked quite like he would like to choke his guest, and he drummed his ring-clad fingers on his knees while pressing his lips together tightly. They began to turn white with the pressure of staying silent, and thus not taking away Nottingham's one chance to be viewed seriously.

The surrounding major towns had marked Nottingham a sad excuse for a neighbor once Vasey had become sheriff, a title that the Sheriff had anxiously been trying to be rid of. It wasn't as if he would lower taxes to increase the morale of the people. He wasn't stupid. He wanted as much money as possible, but he also wanted the respect of those in higher positions than himself. Vasey had never been good at making and keeping connections, and so this guest, the son of an exceedingly wealthy, exceedingly corrupt man by the name of Porter, was exceptionally important to him. Porter might actually agree to form an alliance with Vasey, give some funding to Nottingham, to increase the armies or help gain supplies, for a cut of the eventual profit, of course. If he could gain Porter as a partner, Nottingham would be stronger than ever, and he would be able to truly wield power in the surrounding towns. It all depended on how Vasey presented Nottingham over the next two days.

The cart rolled on noisily for a few moments, jerking once as they hit a bump in the road. The two passengers were blissfully unaware that they had been joined by a hooded figure, who had quietly jumped onto the driver's seat, easily knocking out the flabbergasted carriage driver, and then pushing the man to the edge of the seat. The outlaw carefully propped up the unconscious servant, took the reigns of the horses, and then leaned back so as to hear the conversation inside the carriage. The Sheriff was speaking to a man with an unfamiliar voice.

"Whether I come tonight or tomorrow should not make such a difference. I'm sure your so-called "welcome" would be just as pathetic tomorrow as it will be now. I am just anxious to be rid of this place."

The man was clearly wealthy. And clearly whining. He sounded a lot like Gisbourne, Robin thought with a smirk as he deftly flicked the reigns and leaned back further.

"Well…in any case…I'm sure your entrance will be just as grand a surprise…" Robin understood the Sheriff's tone all too well. It was simpering and sweet, but just under the surface, an ugly judgment loomed, waiting to be brought to the tip of his tongue. This tone was reserved for people that Vasey needed to impress. Robin pursed his lips. This was getting interesting. He had left the rest of the gang to carry on his duties when he saw the carriage approaching, as he assumed he would pick up something interesting from the Sheriff. He was right, but somehow that made him feel more anxious than satisfied.

Robin was worried about his son. Sure, he had told Aidan to stay at the camp. But since when did that mean he would listen? With a sickening plunge, Robin resolved himself to checking the camp for his son. Luckily, the carriage driver was coming around, so Robin gently placed the reigns back in his limp hands, clapped him on the shoulder, and then dove off of the carriage, tucking into a roll as he fell into some tall brush by the side of the road. He lay still for a moment, waiting for the Sheriff to pass and round the bend. The carriage driver, stunned and bewildered, had managed to gain control of the horses by this point, and clicked his tongue quietly for the horses to turn. He twisted in his seat to glance back at the road behind him, but Robin was still flat on the ground, hidden by the plants. The outlaw smirked with satisfaction, before launching to his feet and tearing off through the forest. He was quite a ways away from the camp, he realized. In fact, he was about at the point where he had taken his son to train after his experience in the dungeons of Nottingham. That thought brought forth a number of emotions from Robin.

He was terrified, first, because he could only imagine what his son was doing at this point. In retrospect, it had been stupid to leave him alone, unsupervised. Well, except for Lucy. But what if he had dragged Lucy into his plan? He wouldn't…he would not leave the camp with no plan of attack. But the longer he thought it over, the more he realized, Aidan was exactly like him. He was rash and emotional, and he relied on his impulses more than anything else. If he sought fit to go to Nottingham, then there was no chance he was at the camp. But he was also intelligent, for the most part. He knew the dangers of leaving the camp alone, with no concrete idea of what to do. Maybe Aidan would surprise him.

As he pelted through the forest, Robin noted the tree he had tied that note on, so many weeks ago. He shook his head. He had been so upset that day…he could have killed Aidan for worrying him like that. However, perhaps if he had been a little more lenient on the boy, Aidan wouldn't have felt the need to rebel as he did. It must have been tough for him to be treated as a member of the gang, without getting to do much of anything. He had been patient for a long time. Perhaps it wasn't really Aidan's fault for wanting to get out into the world. Robin couldn't help but think that he had driven his son to running off on his own adventures.

He often felt as though he had been robbed of Aidan's childhood. Granted, he could have been there for those years, and that was probably what irked him the most. He was so focused then, so driven…he made the decision to leave Marian and go to war. For his country, he had said. More like for himself. Thinking back on those days, Robin wanted to kick himself. He could only dream about the glory of war, of being a part of something as epic, as full of action. He didn't know about Aidan…but would that have stopped him? Robin swallowed a lump in his throat as he remembered the day he left. Of course he would have stayed for his child…and yet he didn't stay for Marian alone? Robin took a deep breath and ran faster, as if trying to outrun the crushing thoughts. He tried to talk himself down from his state of fear and anguish. He had thought he would return, and marry Marian. That had always been the plan- to marry the girl of his dreams, and raise a family together. Oh, how tangled up the plans had become.

But in a sense, Robin had gotten what he wanted. He had the girl, if at a distance, and he had a perfect replica of himself and Marian at home. But he had missed the baby steps, the first words. He missed teaching son to ride a horse, watching him grow from a baby to a toddler to a child. He had never been able to hold his precious son in his arms and look at his tiny hands and feet, as he had always imagined doing.

Robin impatiently flicked tears back from his face as he neared the camp. He stopped short when he arrived. No Aidan. He checked the shelter, and yelled for his son for a few minutes. Then, just as he was about to sprint to Nottingham, someone came through the brush on the opposite side of camp. The sun was setting, and Robin couldn't make out the figure approaching, so he rushed forward into the light, catching the stranger by the shoulders. The girl jumped back, startled.

"Josalyn?!"

"Oh, Robin. Sorry, I just came to…to see Aidan. I was worried about him." Her eyes scanned the camp fleetingly, and then came to rest on Robin. "He isn't here, is he?", she asked quietly. Robin pressed his lips together tightly.

**A/N: Okay, so I have finally figured out how I am going to do this. I know this chapter was short, but that is because it is one of a three- part finale-type thing. I figured Robin's point of view should make an appearance. Next chapter will be Aidan and Lucy. And the third chapter will bring it all together in an epic climax! As long as you lovely readers aren't sick of this story, I think I am going to make a continuation piece set a year or two after this finale. I have a lot of ideas for it, and if you're interested, I would start the next piece pretty much right after this one. Please give me feedback on this idea, I really need it! I'm on vacation this week, so the next chapter won't be up for at least a week, but the finale is all mapped out. Thanks for your patience!**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: I know, I suck. Big time. You deserve much better. Life got in the way over the last few weeks, and I swear I would have had this up much sooner if it didn't. Thank you, to those of you who are sticking with this story!**

"Wait for it…wait for it…" Lucy mumbled, her face uncharacteristically consternated as she watched the entryway to the castle with a shrewd eye. Beside her, Aidan twitched a little, cracking his knuckles and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"You're making me nervous," she said quietly. Aidan sighed, but tried half heartedly to relax his tense position in the bushes. They were well hidden, and could probably spend the entire night in this spot without being found, but Aidan couldn't help hearing his father's voice in his head, instructing him to avoid lingering near the castle, to always check the perimeter, to be on guard and never ever relax in the slightest in Nottingham. To be fair, they had been crouching there for quite some time. Aidan had been so full of energy and determination that waiting was almost akin to torture as he studied the walls again.

"Lucy," he finally whispered. "Lucy, I really think it's about-"

"Now!" she hissed back, and Aidan launched to his feet alongside her. They ran to the edge of the castle easily, and when they arrived Aidan felt a rush of adrenaline. They were finally going in- finally accomplishing something. Lucy spent less time reveling in their slight victory against the guards as she deftly picked the lock of the gate and opened it.

"Come on! Before the guards come back!" Aidan didn't need to be told twice. He followed her into a dark corridor, lit only by strategically placed torches set at intervals along the stone walls.

"So where exactly are we?" he couldn't help asking, pausing beside a huge stone door and trying the knob. Lucy reached over and slapped his hand down. She breathed out in a huff, glaring at her partner.

"Don't. Touch. Anything. You have no idea which doors are open, which are booby trapped, and which will trigger an alarm of some sort. I know what I am doing, so just follow me. And for the last time, we are directly behind the kitchens at this point. Got it?"

Aidan waited until she had turned back around before he muttered, "Yes, mother." Lucy turned her head and glared daggers at him before shaking her hair out of her eyes and continuing quickly. They paused at a corner, checked to make sure no stray guards were wandering around, and then ran down the next corridor as well. Finally, Lucy stopped short, and Aidan practically ran into her.

"You wanna warn me when you do that?" he huffed quietly, before turning to see why they had stopped. They were facing another stone door, which looked identical to all the other doors.

"Is this it? Is this where the supplemental storage is kept?" Aidan was unable to keep a hint of exhilaration out of his tone. Lucy didn't respond, as she was already hard at work picking the lock. While she fiddled with the knob, Aidan paced back and forth in the hallway, clenching and unclenching his fists as he walked, more out of nerves than anything else. Did Robin feel like this when he was in the castle? Every noise struck a chord deep inside him, and he could feel tremors of anxiety run down his spine as he heard the lock click. He whirled to face Lucy.

"Okay, slowly now," she whispered. She gingerly took hold of the knob and turned it, pushing the door forward into the dim strong room. At first, Aidan was positive that it was going to be that easy. But as his toe crossed the line into the room, he heard a faint whistling noise, and had enough sense to drag Lucy to the ground with him a split second before three arrows pierced the air in front of them. The arrows clattered to the ground in the hallway, echoing slightly, and Aidan let out a breath of air. "Well, that was exciting!" he said, grinning at his accomplice. Lucy's eyes were wide, but she cautiously accepted Aidan's hand and got up next to him.

"Even more slowly," she warned, hesitantly pushing her foot over the line to the room. Aidan stepped all the way into the room, paused to make sure they were safe, and then offered his hand to Lucy again. As their eyes adjusted to the light, Aidan's heard skipped a beat. Gold. Bags upon bags upon boxes of gold. He could have laughed out loud, but he remained conscious enough to settle for giving Lucy's hand a squeeze. She was silent.

"Let's get to work!" he breathed. Lucy said nothing, although Aidan could have sworn there was something she wanted to tell him. She was probably just anxious about the job...

The plan had been to use a cart (they were near the kitchens, and Lucy knew well enough where they could find one) to transport a load of the gold back to their position in the bushes. Once they got that far, they could don cloaks, cover up the bags and pretend to be peddlers of some sort. The guards at this time of night were not exactly vigilant, as anyone who was passing out of the gates was not really a concern. It was a good thing they had already gotten in. Aidan had briefly considered the possibility of getting stopped and searched on the way out of the gates, but in his frenzied state he only managed to form a halfway decent plan should such an occasion arise. They would either pretend to be lepers (the guards would stay far away from them then), or one of them would provide a distraction while the other escaped. However, at the moment, Aidan was content to scoop up armfuls of the coins, stuff as many as possible into giant sacks, and carry them down the hall to place in a cart. The pair worked silently for a time, Lucy filling the bags and Aidan putting them in the hallway. Just as they were preparing to leave, they heard the sound of armor in the hallway.

They both froze. Lucy glanced at Aidan, biting her bottom lip. Guards were walking towards them. Considering the hallway echoed, they were still a few turns away, but still…Aidan hurriedly pulled the cart inside and behind the door, out of view. As the footsteps drew nearer, he hissed at Lucy to hide behind the money. He waited until she complied to make sure she could not be seen from the doorway. It was then that he remembered the arrows that had flown at them. It was dark in the hallway, but the arrows had landed under a torch. If the guards saw them…Aidan flung himself out the door and dove for the arrows, scooping them up quickly. Heart hammering in his chest, Aidan glanced up as the vague shadow of a guard appeared on the wall behind the flickering torch. They were about to turn the corner, and there wasn't time for him to escape. But the door to the strong room was still agape! They would know something was wrong; there was no way they would look past it! But there wasn't time for action, and it was all he could do to hide around a darkened corner as the guards appeared. There were two- one was holding a flame, and the other was squinting ahead in the darkness.

"Coulda sworn I heard somethin here!", one muttered.

"Aw, you're always sayin that, and it's never true!" The other complained, shoving the arm of the first man in irritation. Unfortunately, it was the arm that held the torch, and by moving his arm, light fell upon the parted door to the strong room. Aidan's breath held in his throat.

"Aye! What's this now?! This door is never opened!" The man without the torch pushed the door open, and waved a hand tentatively across the doorframe, maneuvering himself out of the path of he open door as he did so. Clearly, they knew the room was guarded.

"Arrows are out! There must be an intruder!"

"Nah, there can't be. We woulda noticed if they came in. We were outside the whole time!"

"Right, but why would the door be open?!"

The guard, who was set on figuring out the mystery, stepped farther into the room, grabbing the torch from his friend as he did so.

Aidan knew that at any moment, Lucy would be discovered. His heart sank- this was all his fault. He should have listened to his father. How could he have been this stupid?! He simply could not allow Lucy to be discovered. So, without thinking much further, Aidan leapt out from his hiding spot. Both guards were distracted, so he crept up behind the man in back. With all his strength, he threw himself at the guard. Luckily for Aidan, the man was slight of build and caught completely unaware, and so he was able to force him down to his knees, and then deliver a swift blow to the side of his head to knock him out. The other guard turned instantly, and Aidan jumped back to his feet.

"Run, Luce!", he yelled, as he rushed at the man inside the storage room. The guard took two steps back, and tripped over the cart filled with gold. As he fell, Lucy got up and ran out the door. She looked just as panicked as Aidan was, although there was something about her expression that he couldn't place. Lucy wasted no time; she grabbed Aidan's hand and dragged him down another corridor.

"Hurry, Aidan! That guard will be up in no time!!" Aidan followed without complaint as they ran towards…

"Lucy! We can't go through the kitchens- someone would catch you!"

Lucy sighed, and she looked like she was about to cry. "I'm not going with you. You have to leave, now. Quickly…the Sheriff will be around at any moment!" She pushed futilely at Aidan's chest, trying to force him towards the door.

"LUCY! I won't leave without you!"

"Aidan, please! You don't understand. The Sheriff…he knows I am here. You need to get away!"

"How would he know you're here? I don't understand!"

"I...I made a mistake. I did something terrible. I swear, I never meant for you to...", she took a deep breath. "There's no TIME, Aidan. Please, just go!! Get out, and don't worry about me!"

But at that moment, the door to the kitchen opened, and the Sheriff, along with four guards, stepped towards them.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" The Sheriff's gold tooth glinted maliciously as he smiled at Aidan, sizing him up as though he were a particularly delicious meal. Aidan's breath caught in his throat. This was the closest he had ever been to the man, and all his instincts were telling him to turn and run. He looked back, but the guards had now surrounded him. Oddly enough, they had not surrounded Lucy, who had begun crying now. Despite his position, Aidan felt the need to reassure the girl he had come to think of as a sister in the last month.

"Luce…it'll be okay! Don't be scared!", he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. The Sheriff turned, amused, to Lucy.

"Oh, heroism! Well isn't that just…adorable," he sneered. "So kind of him to defend you, eh?!" He laughed outright at that, and Lucy dissolved into sobs. "Take him to the dungeons," he said smoothly, waving to the guards, who promptly forced him into action. Aidan struggled, trying to look back to Lucy, who still stood by the Sheriff's side, but he was turned around a corner too quickly.

Aidan was not actually taken straight to the dungeons. Apparently, the guards had stops to make, and he wasn't dangerous enough to have to be put behind bars. He waited; hands clasped tightly behind his back in shackles, as two of the guards departed, and was then steered into another part of the building. If it wasn't for the sheer terror and guilt he was experiencing, it would have been a great experience, to see the whole castle without needing to rush. His father had always taught him to take advantage of the things that were handed to him- to be careful but never pass up an opportunity to learn. His heart sank even further as he thought of Robin. Did he already know his son was missing? It was too painful to think about.

When he was finally escorted to the dungeons, he was left with only one guard, who stayed behind and to the right of him, his hands firmly on Aidan's upper arms. When they were about at the giant door leading into the room, Aidan felt a surge of confidence. He could get out of this. His father always managed to do so. As soon as the guard's grip on him faltered, as he took one hand off of his arm to open the door, Aidan took action. He reached backward and elbowed the man squarely in the stomach. As he doubled over in pain, Aidan leaned over and grabbed the key to his shackles from the man's hand. He swiftly maneuvered the key in the lock, and his hands were freed. Then he knocked the man down with another jab to the head, and was halfway down the hallway when two large guards turned a corner to face him. Aidan skidded to a halt. His fists clenched, and he ran forward to take on the men head on. Later, he would regret this decision, but his father's training had not only built up his strength and endurance but his self-assurance (which, ironically, was the opposite of what Robin had intended). Unfortunately, he barely managed to reach the men when he was knocked to the ground by the larger of the two. He tried to get up, but was pinned down by a foot.

"Oi! That little outlaw just knocked me down, and stole the bloody key!" The guard from before lumbered towards them, a sneer fixed on his face. He leaned over Aidan with a grimace. "You think you can get away that easy, do ya?"

"Well, I clearly bested you," Aidan couldn't help but sneer back at him. That was the last straw for the guard, who lifted back his foot and began to kick Aidan repeatedly. Aidan tensed up, trying not to scream as blow upon blow landed on his side, his back, his stomach. At one point, he attempted to get up, but a hard fist to the side of his face brought him crashing down to the ground again. He didn't know for how long he was kicked mercilessly, but he knew when the pain stopped. The guards were standing at attention- Aidan could barely focus from the intense pain, but he saw the Sheriff and Lucy standing before them. Lucy's eyes were red, and she looked absolutely horrified.

"Kid tried to get away," the guard who had been kicking him grunted. The Sheriff shrugged indifferently. "Saves us the trouble of torturing him…for now," he said silkily. Then he turned to Lucy.

"I suppose I should thank you," he said to the girl, smiling from ear to ear. "It was a job well done, although I think you could have gathered information faster than you did. And I cannot BELIEVE you never found out where the real hideout is…absolutely pathetic. But in any case, you did manage to find out ONE useful fact that I wasn't counting on, and manipulate the boy into my possession… so I guess you weren't a totally incompetent spy! You're actually a decent liar!" He turned from Lucy's tear stained face to Aidan's shocked, albeit a little starry eyed, expression. "Wouldn't you agree, Aidan Hood?"

**A/N: Whoa. WHOA. I didn't even see that one coming. Maybe she had a good reason for it. Or maybe she's just evil…hm. Finale will be up this weekend. Sorry again for the wait.**


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